L  I  B  RA  R.Y 
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U  N  I  VER.5  ITY 
or  ILLINOIS 

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PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


4 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


BY 

JAMES  ALBERT  WINANS 

'rofessor  of  Public  Speaking  in  Cornell  University 


REVISE!)  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTITRY  CO. 
1924 


Copyright,  1915,  1917,  by 
James  A.  Wikans 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


TO 


HAMILTON  COLLEGE 
Alma  Mater 

IN  RECOGNITION  OF  THE  FACT  THAT 
FOR  A  HUNDRED  YEARS  SHE  HAS 
UPHELD  THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE 
SPOKEN  AS  WELL  AS  OF 
THE  WRITTEN  WORD 


)  * 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

Much  that  might  have  been  kept  for  the  Preface,  and 
thereby  safely  hidden  from  students,  has  been  set  down 
in  the  Introduction  and  in  other  parts  of  this  book. 
There  remains  only  what  I  wish  to  say  to  my  own  tribe, — 
the  teachers  of  public  speaking. 

The  scope  of  the  book  is  indicated  by  its  title ;  or  would 
be  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  term  public  speaking 
is  now  being  stretched  to  cover  all  oral  expression.  At 
any  rate,  I  treat  here  of  practical  public  speaking,  and 
consider  within  the  scope  of  this  book  whatever  pertains 
to  preparing  and  delivering  one's  own  speech.  What- 
ever in  this  text  pertains  to  interpretation  is  introduced 
chiefly  for  its  bearing  upon  the  training  of  practical  pub- 
lic speakers ;  and  I  have  taken  a  broad  view  of  what  does 
bear  upon  such  training. 

The  field  is  too  large  for  complete  treatment  in  one 
volume  of  convenient  size.  My  endeavor  has  been  to 
make  a  book  which  should  form  the  foundation  for  prac- 
tically all  the  work  in  this  field ;  but  with  it  should  be 
used  a  book  on  argumentation,  one  or  more  books  of 

•eeches,  and  also,  for  the  sake  of  gaining  various  points 
"  view,  other  texts  of  the  same  general  scope  as  this. 

le  main  work  of  the  student  of  public  speaking,  of 

irse,  should  be  speech-making;  and  a  great  deal  of  his 
iii  it  ruction  must  be  received  as  individual  criticism. 

Some  teachers  may  be  interested  in  a  somewhat  more 

vii 


viii 


PREFACE 


definite  statement  of  my  method  of  procedure.  "While 
the  book  has  been  written  in  the  order  which,  after  much 
experimentation,  seemed  best,  especially  with  regard  to 
economy  of  space,  I  do  not  follow  its  order  strictly  in 
teaching.  I  ask  my  class  to  read  the  Introduction  and 
study  with  care  Chapter  11,^  for  discussion  on  the  third 
day.  I  assign  a  topic  of  general  interest  for  a  discus- 
sion at  the  second  meeting,  and  arrange  for  more  care- 
fully prepared  speeches  to  begin  on  the  fourth  day.  For 
these,  outlines  based  upon  the  simple  form  in  Chapter 
XII  are  required.  After  these  speeches  Chapter  XIII  is 
studied  and  discussed.  After  another  round  of  speeches 
we  take  up  Chapters  III,  IV  and  V.  After  a  third  round 
of  speeches,  we  consider  Chapter  XIV,  and  study  and 
deliver  the  selection.  Who  is  to  Blame?  The  first  stage 
of  gesture  training  is  brought  in  about  this  time,  but  the 
speakers  are  urged  to  gesture  freely,  regardless  of  form, 
from  the  start.  After  another  round  of  original  speeches, 
we  study  together  another  selection,  perhaps  A  Liberal 
Education.  This  keeps  us  busy  till  the  Holidays,  in  a 
three-hour  course.  After  New  Year's  we  have  study  of 
gesture  somewhat  more  advanced,  and  end  the  half-year 
with  either  original  speeches  or  selections  individually 
prepared.  Besides  the  speeches  and  selections  men- 
tioned, each  student  has  part  in  discussions  of  principles, 
in  impromptu  speeches,  and  has  trials  of  speeches  before 
instructors  and  in  small  groups.  Much  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  is  put  upon  practice  work,  but  we  have  one 
preliminary  examination  and  a  final  examination. 

The  mind  of  the  student  is  constantly  directed  to  the 
necessity  of  interesting  his  audience,  of  being  clear  and 
convincing;  but  we  reserve  for  the  second  term  system- 
atic study  of  the  problems  of  interest  and  persuasion. 

1  The  chapter  numbers  given  are  those  of  the  second  edition. 


PREFACE 


ix 


We  put  most  of  our  time  again  upon  practice  work,  mak- 
ing speeches  of  many  kinds  and  by  many  methods,  and 
including  some  selections.  In  a  second  year  of  work  for 
upperclassmen  we  attempt  a  thoroughgoing  study  of 
principles.  Masterpieces  are  read,  and  illustrative  mat- 
ter is  drawn,  also,  from  current  affairs,  politics,  reforms, 
from  advertisements  and  from  whatever  can  be  made  to 
serve.  Speeches  are  made  impromptu  and  extempore, 
and  each  student  is  required  to  select  a  major  topic  on 
which  he  writes  several  speeches,  which  are  revised  with 
care.  Debate  in  the  narrower  sense  is  at  present  studied 
in  a  separate  course;  but  I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  a 
wise  policy.  In  the  advanced  work  one  feature  is  the 
giving  of  lectures  by  students,  usually  based  upon  a  text- 
book. I  anticipate  having  papers  and  lectures  upon 
some  of  the  problems  not  fully  developed  in  this  text; 
for  example,  upon  the  restraint  of  radical  action,  attack- 
ing authorities,  and  the  relation  of  novelty  to  persuasion. 

I  have  not  thought  it  best  to  fill  up  the  book  with  long 
extracts  from  speeches ;  especially  as  we  have  now  many 
books  of  extracts  and  complete  speeches  to  draw  from. 
I  have  preferred  to  illustrate  with  briefly  stated  prob- 
lems, drawn  from  matters  well  within  the  understanding 
of  intelligent  people ;  thereby  not  only  saving  space,  but 
also  applying  the  principle  of  reference  to  experience." 
Such  extracts  as  are  given  will  be  found  useful  for  illus- 
trating more  principles  than  those  which  they  directly 
support. 

Not  many  exercises  are  given  in  this  book,  for  I  believe 
one  teacher  is  rarely  able  to  use  to  good  advantage  an- 
other's exercises.  To  get  the  other  teacher's  ideas  and 
suggestions  is  stimulating ;  but  set  exercises,  such  as  can 
be  set  down  in  books,  are  rarely  helpful.    Here  and  there 


X 


PREFACE 


in  this  book  suggestions  are  given,  and  in  Chapter  X  are 
a  good  many  suggested  programs.  In  general,  I  have 
tried  not  to  embarrass  the  teacher  in  the  exercise  of  his 
discretion  in  adapting  the  book  to  his  own  situation. 
"When  I  have  spoken  somewhat  positively  in  regard  to 
methods,  it  has  been  with  reluctance,  and  from  a  belief 
that  the  ways  insisted  upon  were  too  important  to  pass 
over,  and  that  it  would  be  cowardly  to  refuse  to  express 
my  belief. 

One  lives  and  one  learns.  I  believe  that  it  makes  a 
great  deal  of  difference  how  public  speaking  is  taught; 
but  I  do  not  suffer  from  the  delusion  that  there  is  but 
one  way  to  do  things  well.  I  have  taken  a  great  deal  of 
pains  to  get  acquainted  with  other  teachers  and  learn  of 
their  ways;  and  I  know  that  you  who  are  reading  this 
may  be  using  methods  that  seem  to  me  quite  wrong,  and 
yet  getting  good  results.  I  have  tried  to  produce  for 
your  consideration,  therefore,  a  book  of  principles  which 
should  be  adaptable  to  the  work  of  any  one  who  agrees 
with  me  in  fundamentals. 

I  accept  as  inevitable  the  fact  that  some  will  disagree 
fundamentally  with  my  teachings.  I  only  ask  from  them 
the  indulgence  of  a  fair  reading.  Our  subject  is  yet  in 
an  unsettled  state,  and  wide  differences  of  opinion  are 
unavoidable,  perhaps  desirable.  I  hope  that  in  the  fu- 
ture we  shall  have  more  established  truth  as  a  result  of 
the  scholarly  efforts  of  the  young  men  now  entering  our 
field.  As  for  myself,  I  shall  be  happy  if  after  my  fellow- 
laborers  have  reported  upon  this  work,  I  can  believe  I 
have  contributed  a  little  to  the  better  day. 

And  here  an  invocation  to  my  critics!    I  hope  they 
will  prove  wrong  my  statement  in  the  Introduction  tha^^;^ 
honest  criticism  is  hard  to  get.    If  you  have  any  pleasant 
things  to  say,  please  say  them ;  and  if  you  have  unpleas- 


PREFACE 


xi 


ant  things  to  say,  please  say  them^ — to  me.  I  do  not 
profess,  hypocritically,  that  I  like  adverse  criticism;  but 
I  promise  to  receive  it  with  the  meekness  of  Moses  (see 
Exodus,  2: 12),  and  to  give  it  as  fair  consideration  as  a 
poor  human  is  capable  of.  I  trust  it  is  not  too  sensational 
to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  this  the  best  possible  book  on 
this  subject.  I  believe  that  good  books  on  public  speak- 
ing have  been  written  in  the  past.  I  hope  that  better 
ones  will  yet  be  written,  and  I  hope  to  write  one  of  them 
myself.  Therefore,  your  criticisms,  I  pray!  This  does 
not  mean  that  I  send  this  book  out  with  excessive  modesty, 
either  real  or  assumed.  If  I  did  not  believe  that  out  of 
years  of  experience  and  study  I  have  produced  something 
worthy  of  your  attention,  I  should  not  publish  it. 

Of  the  matter  contained  in  Chapters  III  and  IV,  read 
as  a  paper  at  a  conference,  one  teacher  said,  ^  ^  That 's  all 
right;  but,  of  course,  it  is  not  practical."  I  am  pre- 
pared to  say  that  if  that  teaching  is  not  practical,  then  no 
teaching  is  practical.  There  may  easily  be  ^Hoo  much 
theory'^  in  a  course;  but  sound  theory  is  practical. 
Some  may  have  courses  so  brief  that  there  is  time  only 
for  a  little  speaking ;  but  we  find  it  profitable  at  Cornell 
to  introduce  a  considerable  part  of  the  matter  in  this 
book  into  a  course  for  engineers  which  meets  but  twice  a 
week  for  a  half-year.  After  all,  one  is  always  proceeding 
on  some  theory,  and  one's  students  have  some  amazing 
theories.  We  want  much  practice ;  but  we  should  found 
practice  upon  sound  principles.  Practice  which  is  not 
based  upon  sound  principles  is  not  practical.  I  believe 
in  valid  scientific  theory,  nailed  down  with  the  brass 
tacks"  of  practical  suggestions  and  work.  .  .  . 

I  know  well  some  will  not  approve  of  this  book  because 
it  is  not  written  in  what  they  consider  a  proper  textbook 


xii 


PREFACE 


style.  I  have  not  hidden  behind  the  third  person,  or 
the  ponderous  ^ '  editorial  we  " ;  but  have  spoken  as  teacher 
to  student.  Again,  I  have  not  put  a  large  number  of 
labels  on  all  sorts  of  things.  Labels  are  very  tempting, 
and  sometimes  handy;  and  also  at  times  very  trouble- 
some. I  have  sought  the  happy  mean.  And  I  have  not 
sought  new  labels  when  I  thought  the  old  serviceable. 
But  back  of  the  lack  of  labels  is  the  lack  of  dogmatic 
rules.  A  teacher  who  was  a  student  in  our  summer 
school  argued  that  some  college  teacher  should  furnish 
a  syllabus  for  public  speaking  and  should  set  down  things 
just  exactly  as  they  are,  without  any  discussion  or  any 
leeway  for  the  student.  One  is  not  surprised  to  learn 
that  this  gentleman  is  a  teacher  of  mechanics.  Of  course, 
the  thing  has  been  attempted  often  enough,  and  will  be 
again.  It  is  much  easier,  when  one  wants  quick  and 
showy  results,  to  be  dogmatic.  The  method  produces 
contented  and  docile  students,  for  the  most  part;  only, 
the  students  best  worth  while  may  revolt,  and  all  may  be 
disappointed  later  when  they  find  that  the  dogmatic 
teachings  are  not  readily  adaptable  to  many  practical 
situations.  I  have  insisted,  throughout  this  book,  on 
taking  the  student  into  my  confidence,  and  on  trying  to 
stimulate  him  to  think  for  himself.  This  I  do  in  my 
own  classes;  and  although  my  students  are  not  particu- 
larly docile,  or  impressed  with  the  belief  that  my  ideas 
are  always  right,  I  am  satisfied  with  the  result.  I  like 
to  see  them  grow.  I  have  particularly  endeavored  to 
lead  students  of  this  book  to  view  speaking  as  a  real  and 
practical  matter,  having  to  do  with  actual  human  con- 
cerns. And  I  have  not  hesitated  to  discuss  anything 
which  might  lead  them  to  observe  human  nature  as  it  is. 

I  have  wished  students  using  this  book  to  become  intel- 
ligent on  the  subject,  not  merely  to  learn  rules.    I  have 


PREFACE 


xiii 


therefore  explained  much.  But  I  have  not  stopped  with 
explanation.  I  not  only  wish  them  to  understand  but 
to  believe  that  w^hat  is  urged  is  wise,  or  to  form  an  intelli- 
gent belief  to  the  contrary.  And  I  have  not  only  wished 
them  to  believe,  but  also  to  do.  I  have  particularly 
wished  them  to  have  the  right  attitude  toward  public 
speaking.  Many  passages  have  been  written  as  the  im- 
mediate result  of  class-room  struggles.  I  find  in  many 
students,  for  example,  prejudice  against  emotion  and 
iittHgination.  This  I  have  labored  to  overcome.  If  any 
one  says  that,  after  all,  the  chief  thought  in  Chapters  III 
and  IV  is  that  a  speaker  should  master  his  subject,  I 
shall  admit  the  charge.  I  have  devoted  space  to  what 
may  seem  to  us  a  truism,  because  I  wish  to  impress  the 
truism,  and  show  how  it  can  be  put  into  practice.  How- 
ever, I  believe  much  more  than  the  truism  develops  in  the 
process, — principles  we  need  throughout  our  work. 

While  I  have  not  attempted  to  reduce  all  the  topics 
of  the  subject  to  a  simple  system,  which  seems  to  me 
impossible  without  artificiality,  still  I  believe  the  work 
has  unity.  The  key  word  is  Attention.  I  have  not  in- 
sisted upon  this  idea  everywhere,  but  everywhere  atten- 
tion is  the  underlying  thought.  It  may  be  that  some 
other  thought  would  serve  as  the  center  of  thinking  on 
this  subject;  but  more  and  more -my  ideas  group  them- 
selves about  this  center,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  no  other 
can  be  equally  good  for  the  student  of  public  speaking. 

As  regards  sources,  I  have  tried  with  scrupulous  care 
to  give  credit  to  whomever  it  is  due.  I  can  conceive  of 
no  good  reason  for  not  doing  so.  But  since  one  can  never 
tell  where  his  ideas  come  from,  and  since  a  preface  is 
essentially  egotistical,  I  will  here  set  down,  for  those 
interested  enough  to  read,  a  few  remarks  in  regard  to  the 
influences  I  have  been  under.    I  was  for  four  years  in 


xiv 


PREFACE 


Hamilton  College,  and  was  much  influenced  by  its  tradi- 
tions and  by  Professor  Brainard  G.  Smith.  Most  of 
Professor  Smith's  teaching,  as  was  usual  twenty  years 
ago,  related  to  delivery.  With  my  principles  of  teaching 
he  can  have  little  sympathy;  but  I  am  indebted  to  him 
for  his  common-sense  standards.  After  two  years  spent 
in  high  school  teaching,  I  came  to  Cornell  and  served 
under  the  stimulating  leadership  of  Professor  Duncan 
Campbell  Lee,  who  showed  me  how  to  teach  without 
rules  and  without  demanding  imitation.  I  have  had  the 
advantage  of  a  summer  term  under  Dr.  and  Mrs.  S.  S. 
Curry,  and  have  been  helped  by  Dr.  Curry 's  books.  But 
it  would  be  unfair  to  these  teachers  and  untrue  to  fact 
to  say  that  I  have  derived  any  great  part  of  the  teach- 
ings of  this  book  from  them.  I  doubt  if  any  one  of  them 
would  own  me  as  a  disciple.  The  books  from  which  I 
have  drawn  are  too  numerous  to  remember;  but  I 
acknowledge  an  indebtedness,  in  regard  to  teaching  deliv- 
ery, to  Kirby's  Piiblic  Speaking  and  Reading.  In  re- 
gard to  the  psychological  foundations  of  this  treatise,  I 
believe  I  have  made  full  acknowledgments.  .  .  . 

I  wish  to  express  my  gratitude  for  help  received  in  a 
long  evening's  talk  with  my  former  teacher  of  psychology, 
Professor  William  Harder  Squires,  of  Hamilton  College, 
and  in  several  conversations  with  Guy  Montrose  Whipple, 
now  Professor  of  Educational  Psychology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois.  To  Professors  Frank  E.  Brown,  of  South 
Dakota  State  College,  John  M.  Clapp,  of  Lake  Forest 
College,  Harry  Bainbridge  Gough,  of  DePauw  Univer- 
sity, James  Milton  0  'Neill,  of  the  University  of  Wiscon- 
sin, Charles  W.  Paul,  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
Charles  H.  Woolbert,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  to  men 
who  are  or  have  been  my  colleagues  in  the  Department  of 
Public  Speaking  in  Cornell  University  George  A.  Ever- 


PREFACE 


XV 


ett,  Smiley  Blanton,  Alex  M.  Drummond,  Guy  B.  Much- 
more,  Elam  J.  Anderson,  Theodore  T.  Stenberg  and 
Roland  C.  Hugins,  for  suggestions  and  encouragement, 
given  in  letters  and  conversations  (and  sometimes  heated 
combats!)  ;  to  "William  Strunk,  Jr.,  Professor  of  English 
in  Cornell  University,  for  reading  a  large  portion  of  my 
manuscript;  to  Messrs.  Muchmore,  Drummond,  Ander- 
son and  Stenberg  for  reading  portions  of  the  manuscript 
and  assisting  in  the  proof-reading;  to  Professor  Much- 
more  for  preparing  voice  and  gesture  exercises;  to  Wil- 
lard  Austen,  Librarian  of  the  Cornell  University  Library 
for  many  helpful  suggestions;  and  to  my  wife  and  my 
mother  for  their  encouraging  confidence,  I  make  grateful 
acknowledgments. 

J.  A.  WiNANS. 

November  8,  1915. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 


In  this  second  edition,  following  only  a  year  after  the 
first,  I  have  made  no  radical  changes,  but  have  tried 
throughout  to  increase  the  clarity  of  expression  and  to 
add  helpful  suggestions. 

The  most  noticeable  change  is  in  order.  Chapters  II, 
VI,  VII,  VIII,  and  IX  of  the  first  edition  are  in  this 
placed  last,  where  they  are  out  of  the  way  of  the  general 
reader,  but  are  still  within  easy  reach  of  the  teacher  who 
may  wish,  as  I  do,  to  take  them  up  early  in  his  course. 
Chapter  I  (now  II)  I  have  kept  in  its  place,  because  I 
wish  to  emphasize  my  belief  that  the  student  of  speech- 
making  should  begin  by  making  speeches,  for  which  he 
needs  some  sound  ideas,  and  because  I  believe  the  chap- 
ter establishes  a  desirable  view-point  for  the  whole  sub- 
ject. 

There  is  no  certainly  best  order.  At  any  rate,  there  is 
no  order  which  many  will  accept  as  best.  It  will  be 
found  entirely  feasible  to  take  up  the  chapters  referred 
to,  or  those  on  selecting  subjects,  finding  material  and 
making  outlines,  as  early  as  one  pleases.  I  think  it  best 
to  get  on  at  first  with  some  rather  simple  notions  of  the 
I  topics  mentioned,  and  postpone  more  thorough  study  of 
them  until  my  students  have,  by  experience  and  study, 
gained  some  knowledge  of  fundamental  principles. 

From  the  various  kindly  suggestions  which  I  have  re- 
ceived, about  order  and  about  including  this  and  omit- 
ting that,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  not  that  I  am  surely 
right,  but  that  I  am  not  nearly  so  wrong  as  I  might  have 

xvii 


xviii 


PREFACE 


been.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  satisfy  all;  or  even 
to  satisfy  myself.  I  am,  nevertheless,  grateful  for  the 
suggestions,  which  I  have  found  most  helpful. 

The  numerous  requests  for  suggestions  in  regard  to 
the  use  of  the  book  I  hope  to  answer  soon,  but  it  has 
seemed  to  me  that  my  answer  might  better  be  published 
for  the  eyes  of  teachers  only,  and  not  be  added  to  an 
already  rather  bulky  textbook. 

One  point  I  should  like  to  make  in  this  connection: 
that  a  very  poor  use  of  the  book  is  to  make  students 
swallow  it  whole.  My  ambition  is  to  make  its  readers 
think  for  themselves,  and  to  become  intelligent  on  the 
subject,  capable,  not  of  applying  rules,''  but  of  adapt- 
ing my  suggestions  and  the  suggestions  of  experience  to 
situations  that  may  confront  them.  I  seek  to  get  reac- 
tions from  my  own  students ;  and  especially  by  propound- 
ing practical  problems  and  by  asking  for  illustrations  of 
the  principles. 

To  the  few  who  seem  determined  to  judge  the  book  on 
the  assumption  that  it  is  an  attempt  at  a  systematic 
treatise  on  the  philosophy,  or  the  psychology,  of  public 
speaking,  I  must  insist  that  it  is  no  such  thing.  It  is  a 
practical  textbook,  for  the  use  both  of  college  students 
and  of  those  who  must  teach  themselves.  I  am  gratified 
to  know  that  many  of  both  classes  have  found  it  suited 
to  their  needs.  I  have  included  topics,  or  omitted  them, 
in  accordance  with  my  belief  in  their  utility  for  the  pur- 
pose in  hand. 

Let  me  say,  what  seems  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that 
I  make  no  pretense  of  being  a  psychologist;  but  that  I 
make  no  apology  for  endeavoring  to  use  the  work  of  any 
man  who  can  help  the  teachers  of  public  speaking  to  get 
their  feet  on  a  solid  foundation. 

The  criticism  that  has  interested  me  most  has  come  to 


PREFACE 


xix 


toy  fellow  teachers  from  several  students  at  Cornell: 
that  the  book  is  so  interesting  and  so  clear  that  they  have 
trouble  in  fixing  its  contents  in  mind,  for  the  very  lack 
of  friction!    Should  I  take  this  criticism  to  heart? 

In  addition  to  the  acknowledgments  of  the  former 
preface,  I  wish  to  thank  Professor  J.  S.  Gaylord,  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  many  others  who  have 
taken  pains  to  write  me  concerning  the  first  edition.  I 
wish  them  and  those  who  may  write  me  about  the  book  in 
the  future,  to  believe  that  all  kindly  meant  comments  are 
gladly  received,  whether  meekly  accepted  or  not. 

J.  A.  WiNANS. 

Cornell  Heights,  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
December  22,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.   Introduction  3 

Public  speaking  in  practical  affairs.  As  a 
study. 

V,    IL   Conversing  with  an  Audience  20 

Public  and  private  speaking  compared.  How 
to  be  conversational  in  public  delivery. 

y  III.   Principles  of  Attention  50 

Forms  of  attention.  Derived  interest.  Nov- 
elty. Concreteness.  Imagination.  Sustained 
attention. 

ly.   Attention  of  the  Speaker  to  His  Topic  .    .  77 
Applications  of  the  preceding  chapter  to  the 
three  stages  of  preparation. 

>-  y.   Emotion  97 

Emotion  necessary.  Control  of.  elames-Lange 
theory.    Emotion  and  imagmation. 

^yi.   Attention  of  the*  Audience — Interest  .    .    .  109 
yariations  in  audiences.    Principles  of  Chap- 
ter III  applied.    Illustrations.    Qualities  of 
style. 

yil.   The  Expository  Speech  176 

Pure  exposition.  Exposition  in  Argument. 
Use  of  charts,  etc. 

VIII.   Persuasion  Influencing  Conduct  ....  185^ 
Persuasion   defined.    The   audience  analyzed 
with  reference  to  persuasion.    Attention  the- 
ory of.   Motives  and  emotion.  Imagination. 
Suggestion,  crowds  and  mobs. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PA^,E 

IX.   Persuasion  and  Belief  245 

Attent^Sfflind  belief.  Logical  argument.  Emo- 
TOn  and  belief.  Common  ground.  Identifi- 
cation of  beliefs.  Conservatism.  Precedent 
and  authority.  Personal  attitude  of  the 
speaker.  Tact.  Persuasion  not  trickery. 
Making  the  impression  permanent. 

X.    Selecting  the  Subject  349 

Questions  to  consider.    List  of  topics. 

XI.   Finding  Material — Originality  369 

Use  of  the  library.  Reference  works.  How  to^ 
read.  What  is  originality.  The  moral  ques- 
tion involved. 

XII.   Extemporaneous  or  Written— Plans  and  Out- 
lines  385 

Advantages  and  disadvantages  of  various  meth- ' 
ods  of  speaking.    How  to  avoid  defects  of 
extemporaneous  address.    Need  of  planning. 
Importance   of   outlines.    How  to  outline 
speeches. 

XIIL  Further  Analysis  of  Mental  Action  as  Af- 
fecting Delivery  424 

Phrasing,    centering,    echoes,    pause,  inflection, 
etc. 

XIV.   Study  and  Delivery  of  Selections  ....  445 
Value  of.    Qualities  of  a  good  selection.  How 
to  study.  Examples. 

.   XV.    Gesture  468 

Instinctive  and  necessary.  The  impulse. 
Stages  of  training.  Poise  and  freedom.  Ex- 
ercises.   Criteria.    Kinds  of  gesture, 

^XVI.    Platform  Manners  492 

XVII.   Voice  Training  497 

Qualities  of  a  good  voif^e.  Exercises  and  se- 
lections. 


Index 


.  513 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


,1 


« 


Socrates.  But  perhaps  Rhetoric  has  been  getting  too 
roughly  handled  by  us,  and  she  might  answer:  What 
amazing  nonsense  you  are  talking!  As  if  I  forced  any 
man  to  learn  to  speak  in  ignorance  of  the  truth! 
Whatever  my  advice  may  be  worth,  I  should  have  told 
him  to  arrive  at  the  truth  first,  and  then  come  to  me. 
At  the  same  time  I  boldly  assert  that  mere  knowledge  of 
the  truth  will  not  give  you  the  art  of  persuasion. 

— Plato,  Phcedrus. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

With  the  call  for  public  speakers  from  pulpit,  bar, 
stump,  and  lecture  platform  remaining  undiminished, 
and  with  the  large  additional  call  in  these  latter  days 
from  ever  multiplying  organizations,  with  their  meetings, 
conventions  and  banquets,  it  comes  about  that  there  is 
to-day  greater  opportunity  and  demand  for  speech-mak- 
ing than  ever  before.  The  average  man  finds  it  greatly 
to  his  advantage  in  civic,  organization  and  business  af- 
fairs to  be  able  to  stand  up  and  speak  his  mind ;  while 
any  man  who  is  known  to  have  anything  of  interest  to 
say,  or  who  has  in  any  way  aroused  favorable  public  at- 
tention, will  be  fairly  dragged  upon  the  platform.  Thus 
it  comes  about  that  never  before  have  so  many  untrained 
and  ill-prepared  men  found  themselves  upon  their  legs 
facing  audiences, — not  unf requently  to  the  regret  of  both 
parties.  While  many  work  out  their  own  salvation, 
literally  with  fear  and  trembling,  more  have  but  scanty 
success. 

I  shall  not  enter  upon  any  praises  of  the  art  of  public 
speaking.  It  is  good  and  it  is  bad;  it  is  base  and  it  is 
noble.  It  is  part  of  human  life  and  it  is  what  one  makes 
it.  My  point  is  that  it  is  important.  I  wish  we  might 
start  with  a  sane,  wellrbalanced  view  of  this  subject, 
which  seems  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  the  number  of 

3 


4 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


half  truths  that  gather  about  it.  We  need  not  deny  that 
it  is  better  to  ''do  noble  deeds''  than  to  talk  about  them, 
in  order  to  recognize  that  often  one  must  talk  before  he 
will  be  allowed  to  do;  and  especially  that  he  must  talk 
in  order  to  induce  others  to  do. 

We  need  not  deny  that  public  speaking  was  compara- 
tively more  important  in  ancient  than  in  modern  times. 
The  point  is  that  it  is  still  important  to-day,  and  that 
apparently  in  this  age  of  discussion  and  government  by 
public  opinion  it  is  increasingly  important.  It  would 
be  easy  to  fill  a  book  with  expressions  by  men  of  affairs 
to  the  effect  that  ability  to  speak  well  is  important  to 
success.  Earl  Curzon,  the  former  Viceroy  of  India, 
told^  the  students  of  Cambridge  two  years  ago  that 
''never  was  eloquence,  i.e.,  the  powder  of  moving  men  by 
speech,  more  potent  than  now ;  never  was  it  more  useful, 
or  I  may  add,  more  admired  as  an  accomplishment." 
The  late  Senator  Hoar,  long  a  leader  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  declared  in  his  old  age :  ^ 

' '  The  longer  I  live,  the  more  I  have  come  to  value  the 
gift  of  eloquence.  .  .  .  Every  American  youth,  if  he  de- 
sires for  any  purpose  to  get  influence  over  his  country- 
men in  an  honorable  way,  will  seek  to  become  a  good 
public  speaker." 

Eloquence  and  oratory  are  words  which  easily  acquire 
bad  meanings;  for  the  art  of  public  speaking  is  readily 
prostituted  to  foolish  or  base  uses.  It  is  as  easy  to 
"emit  chatter  and  futility"  and  to  utter  lies  upon 
the  platform  as  in  conversation.  When  I  use  the  word 
oratory,  I  shall  use  it  in  the  sense  assigned  by  Earl 
Curzon  to  eloquence,  "the  highest  manifestation  of  the 
power  of  speech. "    It  was  used  in  its  sinister  meaning  by 

1  Modern  Parliamentary  Eloquence,  p.  4. 

u  Introduction  to  Vol.  XI  of  Reed '3  Modern  Elcqvwe, 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


Andrew  D.  White  when  he  said  in  a  public  address, 
' '  Nothing  is  so  cheap  as  oratory. ' ' 

But  that  same  gentleman,  statesman,  educator  and 
Corneirs  Grand  Old  Man,  has  had  a  different  thought  in 
mind  when  on  several  occasions  he  has  invited  groups  of 
students  to  his  home  to  urge  them  to  improve  themselves 
in  public  speaking.  At  such  times  he  has  said  to  them 
that  while  there  is  much  regrettable  speaking  in  this 
country,  he  holds  it  particularly  important  that  young 
men  of  education  and  honor  should  train  themselves 
to  speak;  for  the  ability  to  speak  well  will  greatly  in- 
crease their  influence.  And  this  is  true  not  only  in  Amer- 
ica but  in  every  country  in  Europe,  unless  it  be  Russia. 

Two  motives  for  learning  to  speak  well  are  suggested 
by  the  preceding:  increasing  one's  chance  to  succeed 
and  increasing  one 's  power  to  serve.  In  an  age  of  service 
and  in  an  age  when  educated  men  are  being  recognized 
as  leaders  as  never  before,  the  more  generous  motive 
must  appeal  with  force  to  young  men. 

Educators  are  waking  up  to  the  value  of  this  discipline. 
I  shall  cite  only  those  best  known  to  me.  President 
Schurman  has  often  spoken  publicly  of  its  value,  pointing 
out  that  the  decrease  in  the  influence  of  the  editorial 
writer  has  increased  the  importance  of  the  speaker. 
And  Dean  Crane  of  Cornell,  while  Acting  President  in 
1912-13,  used  his  influence  to  stimulate  interest  in  speak- 
ing. He  said  in  an  interview  granted  the  University's 
daily  paper : 

*^It  is  interesting  to  note  the  great  revival  of  interest 
in  public  speaking  all  over  the  country  at  the  present 
time.  A  man  is  not  considered  educated  unless  he  can 
present  his  views  clearly  and  forcibly.  The  importance 
of  college  training  in  this  subject  has  been  emphasized 
at  more  than  one  alumni  banquet  this  year. ' ' 


6 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


To  the  assertion  that  the  press  has  taken  the  place  of 
the  speaker,  Senator  DoUiver  of  Iowa  replied :  ^ 

^ '  There  need  be  no  fear  that  the  spoken  word  will  ever 
lose  its  power  to  influence  the  world.  The  newspaper 
will  have  no  more  potency  in  abolishing  the  political 
speech  than  the  Tract  Society  will  have  in  diminishing 
the  importance  of  the  preacher.  It  may  change,  and  in 
fact  already  has  changed,  not  only  the  taste  of  the  audi- 
ence but  the  style  of  the  orator.  And  the  opinion  is  ven- 
tured here  that  in  both  cases  the  alteration  has  been  for 
the  better." 

There  is  no  good  in  discussing  the  comparative  impor- 
tance of  press  and  platform  when  both  are  potent.  The 
press  has  its  important  function ;  but  just  so  long  as  men 
are  influenced  by  personality  so  long  will  the  speaker, 
who  employs  this  influence  in  the  most  direct  way,  have 
his  place.  Let  me  quote,  not  from  an  orator,  but  from 
One  of  the  most  thoughtful  editorial  pages  in  America :  - 

' '  The  strange  notion  that  the  day  of  the  orator  is  gone 
by  was  again  disproved  at  Saratoga.  [The  reference  is 
to  the  struggle  in  the  New  York  State  Republican  conven- 
tion in  1910.]  We  do  not  mean  that  there  was  much 
that  could  be  called  oratory,  but  it  is  plain  that  the  com- 
pleteness of  Roosevelt's  triumph  was  due,  in  some  meas- 
ure, to  his  ability  to  take  the  platform  for  a  vigorous  and 
homegoing  statement  of  what  he  wanted  to  impress  on 
the  men  before  him,  and  no  less  to  the  absence  of  any  one 
of  opposing  views  who  could  do  the  same  thing.  Great 
orators,  like  Mr.  Dooley's  *gre-a-at  iditors,'  may  be  all 
dead;  but  that  they  would  be  without  profession,  and 
have  to  turn  their  energies  to  writing  for  the  press,  if 
they  were  to  come  back,  is  preposterous." 

But  I  must  beware  of  alarming  some  with  this  talk  of 
orators  and  oratory,  of  political  aflfairs  and  great  influ- 

1  Saturday  Evening  Post,  May  25,  1901,  p.  G. 

2  The  New  York  Evening  Poet,  October  1,  1910. 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


ence.  While  every  year  there  come  into  my  classes  stu- 
dents who  wish  to  become  orators,  there  are  also  others 
who  are  much  afraid  that  they  may  be  tricked  into 
oratory  against  their  will.  They  need  not  fear.  No  one 
will  be  an  orator  until  he  has,  added  to  skill,  a  message 
and  an  occasion.  But  with  the  real  desires  of  these 
students  I  have  full  sympathy.  In  the  first  place,  they 
do  not  wish  to  take  up  work  in  which  they  will  be  ex- 
pected to  deliver  bombastic  clap-trap,  which  is  their  idea 
of  oratory ;  and  in  the  second  place,  they  wish  to.  learn 
how  to  speak  effectively  in  a  plain  way  in  their  business 
and  professional  affairs.  The  teachings  of  this  text  are 
as  applicable  to  such  simple  speeches  as  to  the  grandest 
efforts. They  will  apply  as  well  to  getting  a  job, 
or  persuading  the  town  council  to  put  in  a  sewage  system, 
as  to  '^moving  the  listening  thousands''  to  favor  great 
reforms. 

That  these  students  are  right  in  their  hope  that  ability 
to  speak  well  will  help  them  in  their  practical  affairs  is 
testified  to  by  many.  Justice  Hughes,  when  he  was  one 
of  the  leaders  of  tSie  New  York  bar,  in  a  lecture  before 
the  Cornell  College  of  Law  urged  the  students  tol^ultivate 
public  speaking.  That  the  trial  lawyer  needs  this 
ability  is  patent ;  but  we  are  told  that  this  is  the  day  of 
the  office  lawyer.''  An  important  member  of  the  law 
department  of  one  of  our  greatest  railways,  a  strictly 
office  lawyer,  tells  me  he  is  greatly  hampered  by  his  in- 
ability to  make  a  speech,  and  that  he  could  serve  his 
company  much  better  if  he  were  able  to  represent  it, 
particularly  at  dinners.  But  what  of  those  men  of  deeds, 
the  engineers?  The  dean  of  a  certain  college  of  civil 
engineering  declares  that  if  graduates  in  engineering 
could  have  thorough  training  in  speaking,  and  some  train- 
ing in  law,  they  could  take  their  places  as  presidents  of 


8 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


all  the  corporations  in  the  land.  In  the  new  generation, 
he  holds,  the  engineer  will  cease  to  be  the  hired  man  and 
will  take  charge  of  affairs.  A  graduate  of  the  same  col- 
lege, a  practising  engineer,  has  established  generous 
prizes  to  encourage  engineering  students  to  cultivate  skill 
in  speech.  And  in  opening  the  contest  last  year,  the 
dean  of  a  college  of  mechanical  engineering  declared 
that  the  donor  of  the  prizes  had  acted  wisely  in  antici- 
pating the  future ;  and  that  the  engineer  must  be  able  to 
carry  conviction  of  the  truth  of  his  results,  for  otherwise 
great  enterprises  cannot  be  carried  on. 

In  a  certain  university  the  only  students  required  to 
take  a  course  in  public  speaking  are  those  in  architecture. 
The  reason  for  this  requirement  is  that  the  faculty  con- 
cerned has  been  impressed  with  the  failures  of  certain 
practitioners  to  secure  acceptance  for  excellent  plans, 
when  presenting  them  before  boards  and  committees. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Waite,  City  Manager  of  Dayton,  himself  a  civil 
engineer,  writes ; 

*'I  am  delighted  to  hear  that  at  last  some  of  the  universities  are 
paying  some  attention  to  v^hat  I  have  felt  for  some  time  was  of 
great  importance ;  that  is,  the  teaching  of'  engineers  to  express 
themselves.  ...  It  isn't  oratory  that  is  necessary.  It  is  simply 
that  men  in  the  engineering  profession  should  have  experience  in 
presenting  their  propositions  to  people.*' 

But  no  class  of  men  dwells  more  earnestly  on  the  ability 
to  speak  well  than  that  which  describes  itself  as  consist- 
ing of  plain  business  men."  .  **It  isn^t  oratory  I 
want,"  such  a  man  hastens  to  say,  but  just  the  ability 
to  get  up  and  say  what  I  think  when  things  are  being 
discussed."  And  those  who  have  had  a  little  training 
will  testify  to  its  help  in  meeting  and  dealing  with  men 
in  all  sorts  of  relations ;  for  example,  in  dealing  with  their 
workmen,  in  selling  goods,  and  in  taking  part  in  the 
affairs  of  their  communities.  Of  course  men  do  succeed 
in  most  vocations  without  the  ability  to  make  a  speech. 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


The  just  claim  is  that  they  find  this  ability  a  help  in  most 
callings  and  indispensable  in  some. 

Let  those  who  shy  at  the  thought  of  oratory,"  or 
even  public  speaking,"  forget  those  words  and  think 
in  terms  of  attention.  "We  shall  find  that  that  is  the 
essential  thing,  attention  and  the  right  sort  of  attention, 
whether  we  are  trying  to  tell  people  things,  or  get  them 
to  believe  things  or  to  do  things ;  whether  we  consider  the 
case  of  the  teacher,  the  preacher,  the  reformer,  the  solici- 
tor, the  salesman,  or  any  other  who  seeks  to  exert  influ- 
ence. President  Lowell  has  written,^  '^For  any  one  who 
desires  to  advocate  a  new  idea,  the  difficulty  is  not  so 
'  much  to  convince  as  to  get  a  hearing,  not  so  much  to  be 
judged  fairly  as  to  be  judged  at  all."  And  he  dwells 
upon  the  need  of  advertising  new  ideas.  Now  public 
speaking  is  an  important  means  of  advertising,  or  draw- 
ing attention  to  ideas.  We  shall  be  more  and  more 
impressed  with  this  truth  as  we  proceed. 

But  should  speaking  be  studied  ?  To  some,  speaking  is 
a  wonderful  art,  requiring  remarkable  powers  which  must 
be  the  gift  of  nature.  It  is  true  that  a  liberal  natural 
endowment  is  necessary  to  the  great  orator ;  but  I  have 
met  with  few  who  could  not  by  persistent  effort  become 
good  speakers.  There  are  others  who  think  that  speak- 
ing is  too  simple  for  study;  as  if  a  subject  which  is 
concerned  at  every  point  with  human  nature  could  be 
simple ! 

*'But  is  it  not  just  a  matter  of  practice?"  some  ask. 
Well,  practice  and  experience  are  absolutely  essential. 
Without  practical  experience,  no  textbook  and  no  course 
of  training  is  worth  while.  It  is  quite  true  that  many 
have  become  good  speakers,  even  orators,  without  such 
aids.    All  book  and  all  school  training,  in  whatever  field 

^Public  Opinion  and  Popular  Government^  p.  59. 


10 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


of  endeavor,  are  subject  to  the  same  limitation.  Gradu- 
ally the  conviction  has  gained  ground,  however,  that  law- 
yers, physiciams,  engineers,  and  now  farmers  too,  are 
better  for  the  training  of  books  and  schools;  or  rather 
that  they  are  best  trained  by  a  judicious  combination  of 
what  the  narrowly  practical  man  is  apt  contemptuously  to 
call  theory,"  and  experience  gained,  at  first,  under 
skilled  supervision.  Particularly  is  it  true  that  progress 
in  any  field  depends  upon  the  development  of  theory. 
Cabbages  have  been  grown  for  centuries;  and  yet  on  a 
farm  I  visited  the  other  day  the  farmer,  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  much  despised  theories  of  the  schools,  was 
producing  ten  tons  of  cabbages  more  to  the  acre  than 
his  neighbors.  Now,  if  by  study  one  can  improve  his 
methods  of  raising  cabbages,  why  can  he  not  by  study 
improve  the  methods  of  planting  and  growing  ideas  ? 

We  study  everything  in  these  days ;  even  sport.  It  is 
quite  true  that  a  man  may  have  a  natural  gait  which  will 
enable  him  to  win  a  race  over  the  best  trained  men ;  but 
we  should  all  have  more  confidence  in  the  runner  who  has 
both  natural  ability  and  training.  A  runner  may  train 
himself,  and  to  a  great  extent  he  must,  as  one  must  in 
speaking  or  anything  else ;  but  he  gets  on  faster  and  more 
surely  with  the  help  of  one  who  has  studied  running  and 
observed  many  in  their  development.  The  '^get-there'' 
stroke  sometimes  wins  a  boat  race ;  but  those  crews  whose 
stroke  is  the  product  of  long  study  of  ease  and  efiiciency, 
most  often  '  *  sweep  the  river. ' ' 

Many  of  those  who  have  succeeded  without  aid  will 
testify  to  the  great  advantage  they  might  have  gained 
by  early  training.  Others  please  their  vanity  by  culti- 
vating the  myth  that  they  have  succeeded  without  effort. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  an  orator  whose  easy  ways 
caused  people  to  assume  that  he  could  not  help  being  a 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


great  speaker ;  but  no  man  has  testified  more  earnestly  to 
the  benefits  of  study  and  training  for  public  speaking.^ 
His  ease  was  the  product  of  training. 

But  what  is  to  be  learned?  The  following  pages  are 
the  best  answer  I  can  give  to  this  question.  Briefly, 
a  student  of  speaking  can  learn  much  about  the  choice 
"of  topics^  about  finding  material,!  and  about  preparing 
his  speech.  He  can  learn  much  about -^'thinking  on  his 
feet^';  about  the  action. of  his  own  mind;  about  the  rela- 
tion of  speaker  to  audience and  much,  very  much  in- 
deed, about  audiences,  and  how  to  adapt  material  for 
'the  purpose  of  interesting,  informing,  convincing  and 
persuading  them.  And  what  he  learns  he  must  train 
himself  to  use.  Many  things  stressed  in  this  text  any 
intelligent  reader  knows,  in  a  sense ;  but  many  an  intelli- 
gent reader,  nevertheless,  needs  to  train  himself  long 
before  he  can  realize  in  practice  what  he  knows.  In 
particular  he  must  train  his  mental  action  on  the  plat- 
form, and  he  must  develop  his  sense  of  an  audience.  Any 
intelligent  man  knows  the  purposes  of  speaking;  but 
most  find  long  experience  necessary  before  they  can 
actually  relate  themselves  to  an  audience  in  the  right 
way.  That  is  in  part  a  matter  of  self-control,  and  in 
part  a  matter  of  growing  gradually  to  realize  the  nature 
of  an  audience. 

No  attempt  is  made  in  these  pages  to  reveal  a  royal 
road  to  eloquence.  There  is  no  way  to  make  a  good 
speech  without  having  something  to  say  worth  saying. 
Attempts  to  ignore  this  truth  bring  public  speaking  into 
discredit.  But  we  need  not  run  away  with  another  half 
truth  and  assert  that  the  something  to  say  is  all  that  is 
necessary.  Given  something  to  say,  desire  to  say  it  and 
a  proper  opportunity,  a  good  speech  has  become  possible. 

3-  See  his  lecture  on  Oratory  and  his  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching. 


12 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


But  there  is  no  need  for  arguing  the  pretty  theory  that 
nothing  more  is  needed ;  for  we  all  know  men  who  have 
much  to  say  and  try  hard  to  say  it,  yet  with  the  poorest 
of  results. 

Besides  having  something  to  say,  a  speaker  must  be 
able  to  think ;  not  only  to  think,  but  to  say  what  he 
thinks;  not  only  to  say  it,  but  to  make  others  listen  to 
it,  understand  it  and  feel  the  force  of  it.  Some  who  can 
do  all  else,  simply  cannot  deliver  a  speech.  AVe  wish 
they  would  write  down  what  they  have  to  say,  and  let 
us  read  it.  To  take  a  sane  view  of  this  subject  we  must 
take  account  of  all  that  enters  into  the  success  of  a  speech. 
— the  topic,  the  subject-matter,  its  formulation  and  its 
delivery ;  and  all  this,  though  not  all  of  it  can  be  treated 
fully  in  one  text,  comes  within  the  scope  of  this  work. 

But  what  can  be  done  in  college  classes  ?    This  is  a 
question  that  is  best  answered  by  experience.    It  is  a 
fact  that  students  do  learn  to  speak  well  in  college  classes, 
and  learn  to  speak  in  such  a  way  that  they  do  not  have  to 
unlearn  in  practical  life,  but  only  to  go  on  developing. 
It  is  quite  true  that  a  student  in  one  of  these  classes  may 
at  times  learn  more  in  one  evening  of  experience  outside 
than  in  a  month  of  work  in  the  class.    The  soldier  learns 
in  his  first  battle  what  years  of  drill  could  not  teach  him. 
And  yet  the  magnificent  German  fighting  machine  was  i 
trained  without  actual  fighting  to  a  high  pitch  of  readi-  | 
ness.    But  do  not  suppose  that  the  parallel  is  exact ;  for  i 
the  practice  work  of  a  class  in  public  speaking  can  be  | 
made  more  real  than  any  mock  battle.    If  you  are  doubt-  | 
ful  come  to  my  class  when  it  is  discussing  athletics,  or 
women's  suffrage,  or  the  European  war,  w^ith  neutrality 
thrown  to  the  winds.    No  mock  skirmishes  these,  but 
war !  j 

I  have  kept  in  mind  in  writing  this  text  the  man  who 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


must  *'work  out  his  own  salvation/'  without  class  in- 
struction. I  believe  that  a  person  who  has  the  intelli- 
gence to  understand  and  apply  the  principles  set  forth, 
and  who  has  opportunity  for  actual  practice,  can  succeed 
in  becoming  an  effective  speaker, — especially  if  he  is  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  a  capable  and  candid  friend  to 
criticize  him.  Most  of  the  suggestions  of  the  text  are 
directly  applicable  to  work  outside  of  classes;  and  the 
others  can,  in  great  part,  easily  be  adapted. 

Nevertheless,  I  believe  that  there  are  advantages  in 
class  work.  The  ideal  way  is  to  have  class  work  and  out- 
side practice  also.  In  class  one  has  the  advantage  of 
making  one's  first  efforts  along  with  others  in  a  similar 
situation,  and  this  eases  the  embarrassment.  Again, 
while  failure  always  has  a  weakening  effect,  it  is  likely  to 
be  less  disastrous  in  class  than  before  other  audiences. 
The  student  has  also  the  stimulus  of  working  with  others 
who  are  trying  to  do  the  same  thing.  He  has  more  op- 
portunity for  speaking  in  a  variety  of  ways  and  on  a 
variety  of  topics  than  he  is  likely  to  have  elsewhere. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  advantage  is  that  he  can  get 
honest,  intelligent  criticism  by  one  who  is  trained  to  the 
work  and  who  has  had  experience  in  watching  the  devel- 
opment of  many  other  students.  Competent  criticism  is 
extremely  hard  to  get  elsewhere.  There  are  enough  to 
condemn  or  ridicule  us,  and  our  friends  are  quick  to  tell 
us  we  do  splendidly;  but  few  will  tell  us  the  truth. 
There  are  few  who  are  candid  enough,  and  fewer  still 
discriminating  enough  for  that.  The  unskilful  will  usu- 
ally touch  upon  the  incidental  rather  than  the  essential ; 
they  will  base  their  comments  upon  a  very  mechanical 
view  of  the  subject,  and  they  wall  usually  criticize  too 
much.  The  teacher,  on  the  other  hand,  should  be  capa- 
ble, and  it  is  to  his  self-interest  to  tell  you  the  truth  in 


14 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


order  that  you  do  his  work  credit.  "When  you  do  find 
anywhere  a  competent  non-professional  critic,  grapple 
him  to  thy  soul  with  hooks  of  steel. ' '  He  is  more 
likely  to  be  found  in  one speaking  class  than  elsewhere. 
The  comments  of  student  on  student  are  not  the  least  of 
the  advantages  of  such  a  course. 

Among  my  treasures  is  this,  written  in  the  firm  hand  of  Andrew 
D.  White,  in  response  to  a  request  for  a  word  to  fraternity  students 
about  debating  : 

"Let  every  student  worthy  of  the  name, — whether  fraternity  man 
or  not — make  the  most  of  his  university  opportunities  for  debate 
and  public  speech.  Such  chances  and  such  training  he  will  not 
easily  find  again." 

I  wish  now  to  suggest  another  reason  for  studying 
public  speaking  which  may  not  be  so  evident  as  those 
mentioned ;  that  is,  that  the  study  is,  in  every  sense  of  the 
term,  educational.  Gain  in  practical  efficiency  is,  of 
course,  a  part  of  education ;  but  this  is  not  all.  As  has 
been  suggested,  to  become  a  good  speaker  is  to  become  to 
some  degree  a  leader.  It  will  be  increasingly  evident 
that  the  principles  of  public  speaking  are  the  principles 
of  influence.  To  interest,  to  inform,  to  convince  and  to 
persuade, — these  are  the  purposes  of  the  speaker.  Again, 
it  is  a  truism  that  the  leader  must  be  a  man  of  self-con- 
trol, and  to  gain  power  with  audiences  involves  gaining 
self-control.  It  was  Emerson  w^ho  said,  ''If  I  should 
make  the  shortest  list  of  the  qualifications  of  the  orator, 
I  should  begin  with  manliness;  and  perhaps  it  means 
here,  presence  of  mind."  We  shall  see  very  clearly  in 
the  next  chapter  the  importance  of  presence  of  mind  and 
self-possession ;  and  we  shall  realize  increasingly  in  later 
chapters  the  necessity  for  command  of  thought  and 
feeling. 

Education  should  also  develop  individuality,  and  en- 
able a  man  to  stand  out  from  the  mass  and  on  his  own 


INTRODUCTION 


15 


feet.  A  course  in  public  speaking  takes  a  student  off  the 
back  seat,  puts  him  up  before  his  fellows  and  compels 
him  to  do  something  on  his  own  responsibility,  to  express 
his  own  ideas  and  impress  them  upon  others. 

Bp^  we  may  go  further.  William  James  has  declared :  ^ 
*^No  reception  without  reaction,  no  impression  without 
correlative  expression, — this  is  the  great  maxim  which 
the  teacher  ought  never  to  forget. ' '  Yet  in  how  much  of 
our  college  work  is  there  encouragement  to  reaction  and 
expression  on  the  part  of  students  ?  To  sit  on  the  small 
of  one's  back,  to  absorb  a  little  from  lectures  and  as- 
signed readings,  to  squeeze  the  mental  sponge  out  on  an 
examination  paper — so  dry  that  only  a  trifle  of  sediment 
is  left, — this  too  often  is  education  under  the  lecture  sys- 
tem. It  is  a  system  worse  even  than  the  old  textboo 
method  which  it  has  superseded ;  for  that  did  provide  f 
some  class  discussion.  I  do  not  know  that  it  would 
wise  for  distinguished  scholars  who  are  also  good  1 
turers,  to  keep  still  while  sophomores  talk;  but  at  any 
rate  it  is  clear  that  our  present  methods  make  it  highly 
desirable  that  there  be  some  courses  in  which  the  student 
has  opportunity  for  self-expression,  in  w^hich  he  has  an 
opportunity  to  formulate  and  express  and  thus  clarify 
and  develop  his  ideas.  We  are  told  that  the  father  of 
Woodrow  Wilson  believed  that  nobody  had  grasped  a 
thought  until  he  could  put  it  quickly  and  definitely  into 
words.    This  he  did  himself  and  this  he  taught  his  son 


One  recalls  Brendel  in  Ibsen's  Rosmersholm.  All  his  life  he  has 
been  intoxicating  himself  with  what  he  believes  very  wonderful 
thoughts,  which  have  taken  shape  in  his  mind  in  "poems,  visions, 
pictures — in  the  rough'' ;  but  he  has  refused  to  give  them  to  the 
world,  saying,  ''Why  should  I  profane  my  own  ideals?"    At  last 


to  do. 


1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  33, 


16 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


stirred  by  the  currents  of  the  time,  he  resolves  to  "sacrifice  them 
on  the  altar  of  Emancipation."  But,  alas !  "Just  as  I  am  stand- 
ing ready,"  he  explains  later,  *'to  pour  forth  the  horn  of  plenty, 
I  make  the  painful  discovery  that  I  am  bankrupt.  For  five-and- 
twenty  years  I  have  sat  like  a  miser  on  his  double-locked  treasure- 
chest.  And  then  yesterday — v^^hen  I  open  it  and  v^ant  to  display 
the  treasure — there 's  none  there  I" 

Altogether,  this  study  is  as  valuable  a  discipline  and 
as  cultural,  as  well  adapted  to  developing  and  giving 
control  of  one's  powers  and  to  *  ^freeing  the  soul  from 
fear,"  as  any  study  in  the  curriculum. 

To  those  who  have  an  honest  fear  that  this  study  may 
develop  in  them  affectations,  such  as  cause  the  objection 
of  many  sensible  folk  to  the  ^'elocutionist,"  let  me  say 
+h^t  all  depends  upon  the  way  the  subject  is  taken  up. 
it  is  studied  as  principally  a  matter  of  delivery,  as  a 
tter  of  tricks,  of  making  fine  birds  with  naught  but 
feathers,  the  danger  is  very  great.  But  if  we  study 
aking  strictly  as  a  means  to  an  end,  as  the  means  of 
influencing  audiences,  the  danger  is  small.,  Strangely 
enough  the  end  is  often  lost  sight  of  in  the  study  of  the 
means.  Frequently  the  audience  is  forgotten.  But 
when  the  ends  of  speech  are  kept  in  mind,  it  is  then  safe 
to  give  due  attention  to  any  matter  which  affects  those 
ends. 

It  must  be  evident  from  the  preceding  that  in  this  book 
we  are  to  deal  with  practical  public  speaking.  This  is 
not  a  book  on  elocution,  except  as  elocution  is  incidental 
to  practical  speaking ;  and  with  parlor  elocution  we  have 
no  concern.  It  is  not  a  work  on  oral  reading,  although 
portions  of  the  book  are  applicable  to  that  study.  It 
discusses  the  principles  and  makes  suggestions  which 
should  be  helpful  to  one  who  wishes  to  present  his  own 
ideas  in  his  own  way,  for  the  purpose  of  interesting^  in- 


INTRODUCTION 


17 


forming,  convincing  or  persuading  his  hearers.  In  the 
sense  that  the  public  speaker  may  arise  to  the  heights  of 
eloquence  which  we  call  oratory,  the  book  deals  with  that 
subject ;  but  it  is  intended  to  help  speakers  in  common- 
place as  well  as  in  extraordinary  situations.  It  is  not 
designed  for  the  encouragement  of  ^  ^  college  oratory, ' '  if 
we  may  use  that  term  to  describe  a  sort  of  speaking  which 
is  sometimes  developed  in  colleges  and  which  would  be 
impossible  elsewhere. 

Indeed,  this  book  is  not  designed  to  encourage  public 
speaking  at  all.  Heaven  forfend!  I  hope  it  will  tend 
toward  the  suppression  of  much  public  speaking, — of  bad 
public  speaking,  and  most  of  it  is  bad.  I  have  no  desire 
to  develop  the  *'gift  of  gab,''  or  the  fluency  which  many 
a  beginner  longs  for,  but  which  is  rarely  lacking  after  a 
little  practice.  Fluency  is  a  grave  danger.  It  tempts 
to  utterance  too  frequent  and  too  profuse.  Mere  fluency 
is  as  ineffectual  as  the  flow  of  a  hose  without  a  nozzle ;  it 
does  not  carry.  A  serious  study  of  this  subject  should 
so  increase  one's  respect  for  the  power  of  speech  and 
give  one  such  a  realization  of  the  difficulty  and  the  re- 
sponsibility of  holding  the  attention  for  ten  minutes  or  an 
hour  of  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  people,  that  speaking 
will  not  be  undertaken  lightly,  without  something  to  say 
worth  saying  or  without  due  preparation. 

As  regards  delivery,  I  hope  the  teaching  here  set  forth 
will  help  in  attaining  a  style  at  once  simple  and  effective. 
It  is  based  upon  the  belief  that  right  speaking  depends 
upon  right  thinking";  but  this  theory  will  amount  to 
little  unless  w^e  closely  consider  what  right  thinking 
means  and  how  it  may  be  attained.  Those  advocates  of 
dogmatic  rules  and  mechanical  study  of  delivery  who  ridi- 
cule the  claim  that  the  all  sufficient  direction  is  * '  Think, ' " 


18 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


are  justified,  if  we  stop  with  that.  "We  must  improve  our 
thinking  and  learn  to  think  like  speakers. 

This  is  not  a  book  of  thumb  rules;  for  a  subject  so 
complicated,  which  deals  with  human  nature  so  con- 
stantly, cannot  safely  be  reduced  to  fixed  rules.  Half 
the  time  the  rules  will  not  apply ;  and  often  they  are  mis- 
leading. ' '  It  is  better  not  to  know  so  much  than  to  know 
so  much  that  isn't  so.''  There  is  no  escape  from  the 
necessity  of  being  intelligent  on  the  subject,  from  under- 
standing the  principles  which  lie  back  of  rules,  and  thus 
understanding  their  limitations  and  how  to  apply  the 
suggestions  made  to  new  situations.  One  should  know 
the  principles,  too,  in  order  that  his  practical  experience 
and  his  observation  of  other  speakers  may  be  as  fruitful 
as  possible.  The  man  whose  mind  is  fixed  on  a  set  of 
rules  will  fail  to  see  the  truth  that  experience  reveals 
when  it  seems  to  escape  his  rules. 

Since  I  am  writing  for  college  students  and  others  of 
equal  understanding,  I  feel  the  more  justified  in  avoiding 
dogmatic  teaching  and  in  attempting  to  develop  in  my 
readers  a  speaker's  intelligence.  Indeed,  no  other  way 
is  worthy  of  those  for  whom  I  write.  The  book  is  per- 
haps a  sufficient  answer  to  the  naive  freshman,  who  when 
he  came  to  ask  me  about  my  course,  exclaimed,  '^Gee,  I 
don't  see  how  you  can  make  that  stuff  hard!"  But 
while  there  is  no  attempt  made  to  dodge  natural  difficul- 
ties and  offer  public  speaking  made  easy,"  neither  is 
there  an  attempt  to  make  the  subject  more  difficult  than 
an  intelligent  treatment  makes  necessary.  That  would 
be  a  sorry  business  indeed.  Rather  by  careful  illustra- 
tion I  have  tried  to  be  as  clear  as  possible.  If  at  any 
point  the  reader  thinks  I  have  dwelt  unnecessarily  upon 
the  obvious,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  written  con- 
stantly out  of  the  memory  of  class-room  struggles. 

( 


INTRODUCTION 


We  shall  now  proceed  to  a  general  consideration  of  delivery,  nu 
because  it  is  of  principal  importance,  but  because  the  student 
should  begin  at  once  to  deliver  speeches,  and  he  probably  is  more 
worried  about  delivery  than  about  subject-matter ;  and  also  because 
the  discussion  of  delivery  furnishes  a  good  opportunity  for  estab- 
lishing a  desirable  view-point  for  the  whole  subject. 


CHAPTER  II 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE 

Imagine  all  memory  of  speecli-ma)iing  to  be  blotted 
out ;  so  that  there  is  no  person  in  the  world  who  remem- 
bers that  he  has  ever  made  a  speech  or  heard  a  speech. 
Imagine,  too,  all  speeches  and  all  references  to  speeches 
in  literature,  to  be  blotted  out;  so  that  there  is  left  no 
clue  to  this  art.  Is  this  the  end  of  speech-making? 
Here  comes  a  man  who  has  seen  a  great  race,  or  has  been 
in  a  great  battle,  or  is  on  fire  with  enthusiasm  for  a  cause. 
He  begins  to  talk  with  a  friend  he  meets  on  the  street ; 
others  gather,  twenty,  fifty,  a  hundred.  Interest  grows 
intense;  he  lifts  his  voice  that  all  may  hear.  But  the 
crowd  wishes  to  hear  and  see  the  speaker  better.  *'6et 
upon  this  cart ! ' '  they  cry ;  and  he  mounts  the  cart  and 
goes  on  with  his  story  or  his  plea, 

A  private  conversation  has  become  a  public  speech; 
but  under  the  circumstances  imagined  it  is  thought  of 
only  as  a  conversation,  as  an  enlarged  conversation.  It 
does  not  seem  abnormal,  but  quite  the  natural  thing. 
When  does  the  talker  or  converser  become  a  speech- 
maker?  When  ten  persons  gather?  Fifty?  Or  is  it 
when  he  gets  on  the  cart?  Is  there  any  real  change  in 
the  nature  or  the  spirit  of  the  act  ?  Is  it  not  essentially 
the  same  throughout,  a  conversation  adapted  to  the  grow- 
ing number  of  his  hearers  as  the  talker  proceeds  ?  There 
may  be  a  change,  of  course,  if  he  becomes  self-conscious ; 
but  assuming  that  interest  in  story  or  argument  remains 
the  dominant  emotion,  there  is  no  essential  change  it* 

20 


CONVERSING  WITJ3  AN  AUDIENCE  21 

his  speaking.  It  is  probable  that  with  the  increasing 
importance  of  his  position  and  the  increasing  tension  of 
feeling  that  comes  with  numbers,  he  gradually  modifies 
his  tone  and  his  diction,  and  permits  himself  to  launch 
into  a  bol(?€T  strain  and  a  wider  range  of  ideas  and  feel- 
ings than  in  ordinary  conversation ;  but  the  change  is  in 
degree  and  not  in  kind.  He  is  conversing  with  an  audi- 
ence. 

Nor  is  the  situation  essentially  different  if,  instead  of 
our  imagined  case,  our  hero  of  field  or  forum  is  invited 
to  speak  before  a  society,  and  this  time  has  notice  before- 
hand, has  prepared,  and  speaks  in  a  prepared  room, 
with  a  chairman  introducing  him,  his  hearers  arriving  at 
a  fixed  time  and  sitting  down  in  regular  array.  There 
are  differences  to  be  sure;  but  these  differences  do  not 
change  the  nature  of  the  act  of  speech. 
^  I  wish  you  to  see  that  public  speaking  is  a  perfectly 
normal  act,  which  calls  for  no  strange,  artificial  methods, 
but  only  for  an  extension  and  development  of  that  most 
familiar  act,  conversation.  \  If  you  grasp  this  idea  you 
will  be  saved  from  much  wasted  effort. 

Public  and  private  speech  compared.  Let  us  examine 
the  more  important  differences  which  will  occur  to  the 
reader  of  this  chapter.  First^  it  may  be  said,  a  pubjic 
speaker  talks  morejoudly  than  one  in  conversation, 
/^^ell,  a  public"  speaker,  just~*'~ajr  a"^rivate  speaker, 
should  speak  so  as  to  be  heard  without  strain.  If  you 
have  occasion  to  speak  to  a  person  at  the  other  end  of 
a  long  table,  you  raise  your  voice.  If  you  wish  to  speak 
across  a  noisy  stream,  you  may  have  to  shout.  This 
Vvould  not  be  ordinary  speaking  to  be  sure,  but  it  is  still 
conversation  and  not  at  all  abnormal.  The  difference 
^  altogether  a  vocal  one.  You  speak  loud  enough  to  be 
Tyeard. 


22 


PU  3I IC  SPEAKING 


Again,  one  is  told,  the  gublie  speaker  does  all  the  talk- 
ing; in  conversation  there  is  a  give  an'd'take.  These 
statements  are  misleadingr"TTiere  are  many^conversa- 
tions  in  which  one  party  does  all  or  ncc^rly  all  the  talk- 
ing. Because  an  old  man  talks  continuously  to  a  young 
man  who  listens  respectfully,  we  do  not  sa}^  the  old  man 
is  making  a  speech.  Our  imaginary  speaker  talked  con- 
tinuously before  he  got  on  the  cart,  with  but  little  re- 
<  sponse  from  his  hearers.  Nor  is  it  true  that  the  public 
speaker  does  all  the  talking.  The  audience  applauds 
and  thereby  says,  ^'We  approve.''  It  may  hiss  and 
thereby  say,  * '  We  disapprove. ' '  Questions  may  be  asked 
and  encouragement  shouted.  But  all  these  expressions 
are  only  audible  signs  of  what  is  going  on  in  any  audi- 
ence  whether  quiet  or  not.  His  auditors  are  thinking 
answers  to  the  speaker's  questions,  or  asking  him  ques- 
tions, or  assenting,  or  making  objections ;  and  the  experi- 
enced speaker  has  learned  to  read  less  demonstrative,  but 
no  less  certain  signs  of  the  thoughts  and  moods  of  his 
hearers.  He  can  tell  by  attitude  and  facial  expression 
whether  the  other  party  to  this  conversation  is  interested 
or  bored,  approves  or  disapproves,  understands  or  is 
puzzled,  and  he  amplifies  a  point  or  touches  it  lightly  in 
accordance  with  what  he  sees.  The  story  is  told  of  how 
Eufus  Choate  reiterated  the  arguments  and  pleas  of  one 
of  his  jury  addresses  for  three  hours  after  eleven  men 
were  won;  until  he  saw  the  stern  face  of  the  twelfth  juror 
relax  in  sympathy.  Many  a  passage  of  good  oratorical 
prose  can  be  turned  into  a  dialogue  by  writing  out  the 
questions  and  objections  that  lie  plainly  between  the 
lines.  (See  for  example  the  selection  from  Curtis 's 
Public  Duty  of  Educated  Men,  printed  at  tlie  end  of 
Chapter  XIV.)  The  young  speaker  can  do  nothing  bet- 
ter for  himself  than  to  fix  firmly  in  mind  that  publir 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  23 


speaking  is  a  dialogue  aud  to  em  phasize  constantly  the 
part  of  the  audience,  anticipating  and  watching  for  its 
response. 

A  third  difference  is  said  to  be  that  the  pubiiiLspeaker 
prepares,  while  the  converser  speaks  as  things  occur  to 
him.  It  is  true  that  a  public  speaker  should  prepare 
when  there  is  opportunity;  but  he  is  none  the  less  a 
public  speaker  because  he  is  too  indolent,  or  too  busy, 
or  is  called  upon  too  suddenly.  Nor  is  a  man  less  a  con- 
verser because  he  prepares  for  a  private  conversation. 

Suppose  a  student  is  chairman  of  a  committee  formed  for  re- 
sistance to  the  abolition  of  cherished  holidays.  This  student  has 
an  appointment  with  the  President  of  the  University  for  the  pur- 
pose of  presenting  the  views  of  the  student  body.  He  talks  with 
his  committee.  One  says,  *'This  is  a  good  argument  to  use.'* 
Another,  "That  is  not  the  way  to  put  it ;  this  is  the  way  to  reach 
the  President."  After  discussing  the  arguments,  the  chairman 
remembers  that  the  President  has  promised  him  but  ten  minutes. 
He  must  cut  out  some  arguments  and  find  brief  ways  of  presenting 
others ;  and  by  the  time  of  his  appointment  he  knows  just  about 
what  he  intends  to  say  and  how  he  will  say  it.  We  will  suppose 
that  the  President  says  very  little,  simply  listens  attentively  with 
but  an  occasional  question.  We  are  assuming  a  wise  student ; 
hence  he  does  not  take  a  loafing  attitude  or  talk  slang.  He  talks 
as  directly  and  pointedly  and  in  as  good  language  as  he  can  and 
stops  on  time.  Has  he  made  a  speech  or  conversed?  Conversed, 
of  course ;  but  he  has  sifted  his  ideas,  adapted  them  to  his  hearer, 
and  has  not  presumed  upon  his  hearer's  time.  He  has  followed 
a  method  excellent  for  a  public  speaker. 

Suppose  further,  that  at  the  end  of  the  conversation  the  Presi- 
dent says,  *'Mr.  Smith,  I  wish  you  would  come  to  the  faculty 
meeting  to-morrow  and  say  there  what  you  have  here."  At  fac- 
ulty meeting  our  chairman  has  fifty  or  a  hundred  hearers.  He 

:  has  to  raise  his  voice  a  bit,  he  stands  up,  perhaps  no  questions  are 
asked ;  but  if  he  has  the  good  sense  and  self-control  to  talk  to 
the  faculty  in  the  same  spirit  and  largely  in  the  same  manner  as 
when  he  spoke  to  the  President  alone,  he  vn.ll  probably  make  an 

I    effective  speech. 

}  ^  If,  on  the  other  hand,  .he  adopts  a  tone  and  manner  strange  to 
[  ,  himself,  but  which  he  may  consider  as  belonging  to  speech-making^ 
!  "\e  may  easily  be  ridiculous. 


9A 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


It  is  a  matter  of  adf  ptation.  If  we  are  told  that  public 
speaking  demands  more  dignity  of  manner  or  of  lan- 
guage, the  answer  is  already  plain:  All  depends  upon 
circumstances.  Our  student,  though  discussing  the  same 
subject,  talks  to  a  fellow  student  in  a  more  free  and  easy 
way  than  to  the  President  and  he  talks  to  the  faculty  in 
a  manner  different  from  that  in  which  he  addresses  a 
meeting  of  the  student  body.  In  a  similar  way  can  be 
met  other  arguments  made  to  prove  that  public  speaking 
and  private  conversation  are  essentially  different  acts, 
and  that  therefore  the  former  calls  for  essentially  differ- 
ent methods. 

I  On  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  maintain  that  public  and 
private  speech  are  ordinarily  just  alike.  |  We  usually 
have  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  conversation  from 
speech-making.  Conventional  differences,  such  as  that 
the  gjiblio-sp^akernisua]^^ 

grou-p4e4alk.-w]3ile^  conyerserjisualj^  make 
a  distinction.  Ordinarily,  too,  the  public  speaker  does 
speak  more  loudly,  does  talk  more  continuously,  does 
make  more  preparation,  and  especially  he  does  have 
to  deal  with  more  minds.  These  and  other  differences 
may  be  important.  They  may  make  public  speaking 
seem  quite  different  from  private  speaking;  but  since 
there  is  practically  nothing  true  of  public  speaking  that 
may  not  be  true  at  times  of  conversation  and  nothing 
true  of  conversation  that  may  not  be  true  of  public  speak- 
ing, we  can  hardly  hold  the  differences  essential.  They 
j^re  not  essential  to  the  problem  of  delivery,  and  particu- 
larly to  the  narrow  phase  of  delivery  we  are  about  to 
consider,  the  delivery  of  sentences  with  correct  emphasis, 
pause,  pitch  and  inflection.  Still,  despite  the  essential 
identity  of  public  and  private  speaking,  it  is  misleading 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  25 


to  say  that  one  speaks  to  an  audience  just  as  to  one  per- 
son. 

A  good  deal  of  space  has  been  given  to  this  discussion,  because  this 
conception  is  fundamental  to  all  our  work,  and  experience  justifies 
the  elaboration.  Perhaps  there  are  few  that  would  maintain  that 
public  speaking  is  something  far  removed  from  other  speaking ;  but 
there  are  many  who  vaguely  feel  that  there  is  a  vast  difference.  As 
a  consequence,  they  begin  to  speak  in  a  strange  tone,  they  adopt  a 
manner  stiff  and  pompous,  they  talk  over  the  heads  of  their  audi- 
ence, vociferating  loudly ;  or  perhaps,  they  take  a  dull  monotonous 
tone,  lacking  the  lively  communicative  inflections  of  conversation. 
They  may  adopt  a  pompous  diction  in  an  abortive  attempt  to  imi- 
tate Webster  at  his  worst;  or,  what  is  the  strongest  evidence  of 
their  perverted  conception,  they  endeavor  to  speak  by  a  marvelous 
system  of  rules,  which  tell  them  when  their  voices  should  go  up, 
when  down,  what  words  to  emphasize,  when  to  use  guttural  tones, 
when  aspirate,  and  where  to  pause. 

Certain  common  misconceptions  removed.  Before  pro- 
ceeding to  our  positive  teaching  on  delivery  it  will  be 
best  to  guard  against  certain  misunderstandings  which 
often  arise.  First,  public-speaking,  to  be  conversational 
in  quality,  need  not  sound  like  conversation,  certainly 
not  like  ordinary  conversation.  Conventional  differences 
may  make  it  sound  very  different.  However,  conversa- 
tion has  many  different  sounds.  Much  depends  upon 
the  hearer,  the  situation,  the  subject  and  the  speaker. 

The  same  man  in  discussing  the  weather,  politics, 
literature,  religion,  may  have  several  different  manners. 
He  may  be  listless  while  speaking  of  your  hobby,  but 
while  talking  of  his  own  impassioned.  *  The_diction  of 
the  commonest  man,,tends  to  become  elevated  when  he 
?  ?ak5  oF  elevated  subjects,  even  in  private  conversation.. 

V  e  should  note,  also,  the~p6ssitttity^nof-^etting^a 
torted  conception  of  the  style  of  a  speaker  like  Webster 
'because  most  of  us  read  only  isolated  passages,  and  the 
lofty  strain  of  an  impassioned  peroration  may  be  very 


26 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


different  from  the  body  of  the  speech.  15arth  part  is 
fitted  to  its  place.  Nearly  all  have  read  Webster's  apos- 
trophe to  the  flag  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Reply  to  Hayne ; 
few  have  read  the  four-hour  address.  Most  school  chil- 
dren have  met  with  Webster's  terrible  description  of  the 
tortures  of  the  murderer's  mind,  so  far  from  ordinary 
discourse;  but  very  few  indeed  have  read  the  whole  of 
that  masterly  address  to  the  jury  in  the  trial  oi!  the  mur- 
derer of  Captain  Joseph  "White.  Read  all  and  you  will 
understand  the  assertion  of  one  of  Webster's  contem- 
poraries that  Webster  talked  to  the  jury  as  if  he  were  a 
thirteenth  juror  who  had  just  stepped  out  in  front  in 
order  to  address  them  better.  Again  we  must*  remem- 
ber that  the  conversational  style  of  Webster, — of  whom 
Carlyle  wrote,  *^No  man  was  ever  so  great  as  Daniel 
AYebster  looked,"  and  who  made  the  British  laborer  ex- 
claim, ^^By  Jove,  there  goes  a  king," — that  the  conversa- 
tion of  such  a  man  would  not  sound  like  that  of  more 
commonplace  people.  An  acquaintance  has  told  me  that 
he  was  amazed  by  Roscoe  Conkling's  ability  to  pour  out 
impromptu  a  lofty  diction  in  the  Senate  *or  on  the 
stump,  until  he  knew  Conkling  personally  and  found 
that  he  never  let  down  in  his  vocabulary.  The  grand 
style  was  his  natural  language. 

^  /Secondly,  do  not  suppose  when  you  are  urged  to  be 
^conversational  in  public  speech  that  you  are  expected  to 
be  less  careful,  or  dignified,  or  strong,  or  eloquent,  than 
you  would  be  otherwise.  There  is  nothing  in  this  ad- 
vice to  restrain  us  from  the  exercise  of  our  highest  po^^^'- 
ers.  Perhaps  there  is  no  better  way  to  make  the 
than  to  quote  what  has  been  said  of  Wendell  Phill.^>.i^ 
the  great  anti-slavery  orator.  George  William  "Surti^ 
said  of  him,  '*It  was  simple  colloquy — a  gentleman  coi 
versing."    Yet  that  there  was  no  lack  of  power  is  evi 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  2. 


denced  by  the  storms  he  stirred  up.  A  Richmond  news- 
paper, which  detested  his  doctrine  of  abolition,  said  of 
him, ' '  He  is  an  infernal  machine  set  to  music ! ' '  Thomas 
Wentworth  Higginson  said  of  Phillips : 

''The  key-note  of  the  oratory  of  Wendell  Phillips  lay 
in  this:  that  it  was  essentially  conversational — the  con- 
versational raised  to  its  highest  power.  ^  Perhaps  no 
orator  ever  spoke  with  so  little  apparent  effort,  or  began 
so  entirely  on  the  plane  of  his  average  hearers.  It  was 
as  if  he  simply  repeated,  in  a  little  louder  tone,  what  he 
had  just  been  saying  to  some  familiar  friend  at  his  elbow. 
.  .  .  The  colloquialism  was  never  relaxed,  but  it  was 
familiarity  without  loss  of  dignity.  ^Then  as  the  argu- 
ment went  on,  the  voice  grew  deeper,  the  action  more 
animated,  and  the  sentences  came  in  a  long  sonorous 
swell,  still  easy  and  graceful,  but  powerful  as  the  soft 
stretching  of  a  tiger's  paw." 

To  take  an  example  from  present  day  speakers,  Maud  Balling- 
ton  Booth  has  said  that  in  speaking  "she  never  was  conscious  of 
dropping  a  sense  of  conversation" ;  yet  she  is  a  speaker  of  rare 
power.  One  of  the  greatest  feats  I  have  ever  known  was  when 
Mrs.  Booth  held  for  two  hours  and  a  quarter  the  close  attention 
of  an  audience  at  Cornell  Univesity,  an  audience  surfeited  with 
lectures.  True,  her  story  of  work  in  the  prisons  was  fascinating ; 
but  a  touch  of  the  forced,  unnatural  manner  affected  by  some 
speakers  would  have  sent  us  to  boredom  in  half  the  time,  nor 
could  she  ha.ve  held  us  had  there  not  been  in  her  delivery  real 
power. 

Please  understand  clearly  that  to  have  conversational 
quality  in  your  public  speech  does  not  require  a  low 
I  tone,  or  a  careless  manner,  or  undignified  English.  So 
'  far  as  our  present  problem  is  concerned,  use  what  manner 
seems  good  to  you.  Give  your  thoughts  fitting  garb ;  to! 
plain  thoughts  plain  expression,  to  heightened  thoughts'' 
heightened  expression.  What  I  am  now  urging  is,  that,^ 
whatever  else  you  do,  you  should  make  your  speech 
genuine  communication.    Do  not  look  upon  public  speak- 


28 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ing  as  a  performance,  but  as  a  genuine  dealing  with 
men. 

Thirdly,  and  quite  in  line  with  the  preceding,  do  not 
understand  that  I  am  advocating  what  is  called  sometimes 
i*.*the  conversational  style."  I  advocate  no  style.  The 
word  suggests  too  strongly  that  all  should  speak  in  one 
manner,  while  we  should  stand  for  individuality.  I 
urge  only  that  our  public  speaking  should  be  conversa- 
tional in  its  elements,  and  that  each  should  develop  and 
Jmprove  his  own  best  conversation.  It  is  not  conversa- 
tional style  but  conjggrsational  quality  that  we  want  in 
our^plati'orm  delivery!  Do  not  understand  that  this  is 
somenewthing ;  or  that  there  are  various  kinds  of  good 
speaking  and  that  speaking  which  has  conversational 
quality  is  one  of  them.  As  we  are  using  the  term  there 
is  no  good  speaking  that  is  not  conversational ;  and  there 
never  has  been  in  any  age  whether  grand  or  simple. 

It  is  true  that  Phillips  is  called  the  exemplar  of  the  "conversa- 
tional style,"  and  that  it  is  frequently  said  that  since  his  time 
American  public  speaking  has  been  reformed  until,  as  Goldwin 
Smith  says  in  his  Reminiscences ,  you  will  go  far  to  hear  an  old- 
time  "spread-eagle"  speaker.  Not  only  is  the  pomposity  of  former 
days  passing;  but  the  old  formality  also,  and  perhaps  too  much  of 
the  real  dignity  of  earlier  times,  has  disappeared  along  with  the 
heavier  private  manners  and  speech  of  our  fathers.  Properly  un- 
derstood as  referring  to  the  speaking  of  to-day  as  compared  with 
that  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  term  conversational  style 
is  unobjectionable.  But  that  is  not  what  we  are  considering  here. 
It  will  be  best  to  avoid  the  term. 

A  fourth  common  misconception  remains  to  be  dealt 
with:  Since  the  first  important  thing  for  the  beginner 
to  do  is  to  stand  up  and  talk  with  his  audience,  some 
are  quick  to  say,  *^Just  be  natural."  This  advice  is 
plausible  but  hardly  helpful.  AVhat  does  this  phrase 
'*Be  natural,"  constantly  ^ased  to  signify  all  that  is  good, 
mean  ?    The  savage  is  nearer  to  nature  than  the  civili' 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE 


man;  yet  he  is  hardly  a  model.    The  child  is  u. 
natural  than  the  adult.    As  Henry  Ward  Beeches  sa. 
if  nature  were  the  ideal  we  should  remain  infants.  It 
natural  to  be  bad  as  well  as  to  be  good.    It  is  natura. 
for  some  to  stammer,  for  others  to  strut,  for  others  to 
be  afraid  of  audiences.    Indeed,  is  it  not  natural  for  some 
to  be  affected  ?    At  least  affectation  comes  without  effort. 
It  is  natural  for  many  on  the  platform  to  be  unnatural. 
The  advocates  of  ^'Be  natural,"  as  an  all  sufficient  guide 
are  quite  as  likely  as  any  to  strut  and  bellow. 

It  is  manifest  that  we  are  juggling  with  various  mean- 
ings of  the  word  natural.  It  may  mean  (1)  in  a  state  of 
nature,  untrained;  (2)  unaffected,  sincere,  not  artificial, 
or  exaggerated;  or  (3)  in  accordance  with  nature's  laws, 
normal.  The  word  as  generally  used  is  too  loose  for  our 
purpose.  If  it  is  good  to  be  natural  in  the  first  sense, 
then  all  education  must  be  wrong.  fWe  wish  to  develop 
nature  and  remove  defects  in  speaking,  as  in  all  else.  / 
Too  often  the  plea  of  naturalness  is  made  as  a  defense 
for  faults.  If  your  mannerisms  are  objectionable  to 
your  hearers  or  decrease  your  effectiveness,  they  should 
be  remedied  if  possible,  whether  ^'natural''  or  acquired. 
Most  of  that  which  we  call  natural  is  merely  acquired 
habit. 

Taking  the  second  meaning  of  natural,  we  shall  find 
that  the  plausible  advice,  ^*Be  natural,"  is  difficult  of 
application  by 'tft^'IBe'ginner,  and  that  it  is  indeed  '^nat- 
ural to  be  unnatural."  Most  beginners  feel  embarrass- 
ment. Even  old  speakers  suffer  and  rarely  face  an  audi- 
ence on  an  occasion  of  importance  without  a  strong  feel- 
ing of  tension.  At  best  the  simple  advice,  *'Be  natural," 
is  of  but  negative  value,  meaning  for  us.  Don't  con- 
sciously assume  strange  tones  and  manners.  It  will  be 
test  to  avoid  the  phrase  altogether,  unless  we  define  it 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


^  it.    We  shall  be  helped  more  in  escaping 
.  and  attaining  genuine  naturalness,  when 
cher  and  find  out  how  to  be  natural.  The 
^  ay  seem  odd  to  you,  but  we  need  sometimes  to 

.ow  to  be  natural.    We  need  now  to  learn  how  to 
V  ae.  .n  accordance  with  nature  and  to  develop  habits  that 
I  will  hold  us  to  the  normal  under  the  stress  of  the  plat- 
;  form.    Let  us  look  more  closely  into  the  nature  of  con- 
versational  speech,  in  order  to  learn  what  we  have  to 
develop  and  adapt  to  public  delivery. 

Conversational  delivery  analyzed.  Let  us  turn  to  a 
common  experience.  Why  is  it  that  a  small  boy  in  school 
reads  ^^See — the — Ahorse — on — the — ^hill"  without  a  trace 
of  meaning  in  his  tone,  and  yet  five  minutes  later  on  the 
playgrounds  shouts  the  sajne  words  to  his  playmates  with 
«r  perfect  expression?  And  why  is  it  that  if  the  teacher 
insists  that  Johnnie  read  over  his  sentence  and  get  its 
meaning  before  reading  it  aloud,  he  will  read  with  far 
better  expression?  And  why,  if  the  teacher  then  asks 
him  to  stand  f  acing  his  class  and  read  or  tell  the  story  to 
them,  does  he  read  with  really  good  expression?  The 
reason  for  his  first  improvement  is  apparent :  in  his  first 
reading  all  his  mind  is  given  to  recognizing  words  as 
words.  They  are  without  content  for  him ;  they  bring  no 
meaning,  no  picture  to  his  mind.  His  expressionless 
voice  is  a  true  index  of  his  impressionless  mind ;  or  rather, 
to  be  strict,  his  high  strained  tone  expresses  truly  the 
anxious  strain  of  his  attention  to  the  symbols  before  him. 
When  he  grasps  the  meaning,  expression  comes  into  his 
voice.  He  not  only  understands,  but  if  he  has  a  marked 
success,  he  has  more  than  bare  understanding:  the  ob- 
jects and  incidents  of  which  he  reads  are  present  to  his 
imagination.  The  horse  is  to  him  a  real  and  significant 
object  at  the  instant  he  speaks  the  words.    He  has  ' 


CO>'V^ERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  31 


proached  the  conditions  of  his  playground  conversation. 
He  is  *'tainkmg  on  his  feet'';  he  creates,  or  re-creates, 
the  thought  at  the  moment  of  delivery. 

But  our  small  boy  is  still  more  successful  in  his  read- 
ing when  he  is  made  to  feel  that  he  is  reading  or  telling 
his  story  to  his  classmates.  To  throw  the  statement  into 
a  phrase  we  shall  make  much  use  of,  Johnnie  succeeds 
when  he  reads  or  speaks  with  a  sense  of  communication. 
On  the  playground  he  has  the  most  perfect  expression  of 
all,  when  with  no  thought  of  how  he  says  things,  he  uses 
perfect  tone,  emphasis,  and  inflection.  Still  the  advice, 
''Forget  your  delivery,"  will  be  of  little  aid  to  the  em- 
barrassed beginner.  We  can  forget  only  by  turning  our 
attention  to  something  else.  Forget  embarrassment  then 
by  holding  your  mind  to  your  subject-matter  and  your 
business  with  your  audience.  Hold  firmly  to  the  concep- 
tion that  you  are  there  to  interest  them,  not  in  your 
speaking,  but  in  your  ideas;  to  convince  or  persuade 
them.  Look  for  their  response.  Stand  behind  your 
speech,  and  embarrassment  will  disappear.  As  soon  as 
you  can  carry  out  these  injunctions,  whatever  your  faults, 
you  will  be  a  speaker.  - 

What  to  do.  To  summarize,  then,  your  delivery  will 
have  the  desired  conversational  quality  when  you  retain 
upon  the  platform  these  elements  of  the  mental  state  of 
live  conversation: 

1.  Full  realization  of  the  content  of  your  words  as  you 
utter  them,^  and 

2.  A  lively  sense  of  communication. 

1  It  may  be  said  that  the  5rst  element  is  included  in  the  second ; 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  this  is  true  in  all  cases.  At  any  rate,  both 
elements  need  stress.  In  practice  much  attention  must  be  given 
the  first ;  and  a  groat  deal  of  what  follows  is  intended  to  show  how- 
to  develop  full  realization  of  content.  This  depends  primarily  upon 
mastery  of  subject-matter ;  but  beyond  this  is  needed  the  well 

^ablished  habit  of  "thinking  on  one's  feet." 


32  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

When  the  first  element  is  lacking  we  may  characterize 
the  delivery  as  absent-minded;  when  the  i^ecotd  is  lack- 
ing we  may  describe  the  delivery  as  soliloquizing,  not 
commnnicativey  or  indirect. 

These  directions  needed.  Put  so  simply  these  direc- 
tions may  strike  some  as  needless.  They  may  ask,  '*Do 
not  all  sensible  speakers  think  as  they  speak,  and  do 
they  not  realize  that  they  speak  to  communicate?" 
Many  years  o^  observation  convince  me  that  these  nat- 
ural questions  must  be  answered  in  the  negative.  The 
faults  of  absent-minded  speaking  and  soliloquizing  speak- 
ing are  very  common.  Of  course,  there  is  usually  some 
consciousness  of  the  meaning,  but  not  always.  Mind 
you,  no  half  grasp  will  do.  Nor  is  it  enough  to  grasp  the 
bare  meaning;  the  emotional  content  also  must  be  real- 
ized. 

To  fail  of  contact,  to  be  indirect,  is  very  common  in- 
deed. Young  speakers  too  often  look  upon  public  speak- 
ing as  an  exhibition ;  and  older  speakers  frequently  fall 
into  a  perfunctory  manner,  especially  those  who  speak 
frequently  and  in  a  routine  way.  Moreover,  many  of 
those  who  do  in  a  measure  fulfil  the  conversational  con- 
ditions, suffer  from  a  wrong  start.  The  man  who  begins 
his  career  as  a  speaker  because  he  **has  something  to  say 
which  he  wishes  very  much  to  say,''  and  continues  for 
the  same  reason  until  his  habits  are  fixed,  and  who  has 
no  false  notions  of  speaking,  may  come  naturally  to  a 
genuine  delivery.  But  if  a  speaker  begins  with  the  no- 
tion that  he  speaks  to  make  an  exhibition  of  his  delivery, 
or  that  delivery  is  an  external,  mechanical  thing  to  be 
manipulated  according  to  rule,  or  in  imitation  of  a 
model,  he  will  probably  develop  a  conventional  tone  and 
other  bad  habits  that  will  resist  the  force  of 


CONVERSING  W^TH  AN  AUDIENCE  SS 


strongly  felt  message  and  an  eager  audience.  Unfortu- 
nately, most  of  us  have  made  a  wrong  beginning  with  our 
reading  and  speaking,  and  have  the  habit  of  perfunctory 
delivery.  We  began  to  read  with  all  our  attention  on 
pronunciation,  and  to  speak  pieces"  we  did  not  under- 
stand, in  order  to  make  admiring  aunts  and  jealous 
neighbors  say :  * '  How  splendid !  I  heard  every  word ! ' ' 
when  our  delivery  was  really  an  abomination, — ^neither 
song  nor  speech.  /Lt  *  -  ^  tlx  C  lACi 

The  conversational  elements  in  reading.  Perhaps  it  is 
more  common  to  read  than  to  speak  absent-mindedly  and 
indirectly.  The  minister,  for  example,  reading  hymn  or 
scripture  lesson,  with  his  mind  on  his  sermon,  or  on  who 
has  come  to  church,  may  proceed  with  but  the  vaguest 
consciousness  of  the  meaning  of  what  he  reads  and  with 
no  feeling  that  he  is  reading  to  answering  minds.  He 
may  pronounce  the  words  in  a  sonorous  ministerial  tone. 
And  his  congregation  ?  How  rarely  do  they  really  listen ! 
If  indifferent,  they  think  of  business  or  fashions;  if 
devout,  they  piously  feel  it  is  all  good  and  true  and  are 
affected  by  the  sound  regardless  of  sense,  like  the  old 
lady  who  always  wept  when  she  heard  'Hhat  blessed 
word,  Mesopotamia!''  In  many  churches  there  is  a  feel- 
ing that  nothing  really  counts  but  the  sermon,  and  there 
is  a  notable  shifting  and  coming  to  attention  when  ser- 
mon time  comes.  In  those  churches  where  the  reading  is 
of  chief  importance,  the  members  of  the  congregation  get 
the  meaning,  so  far  as  they  do,  by  following  the  service 
in  their  individual  books.  And  all  this  is  but  the  natural 
result  of  the  perfunctory  reading  that  prevails.  When  a 
preacher  takes  the  pains  to  study  out  the  significance  of 
what  he  reads,  throws  off  the  ministerial  tune,  and  reads 
as  one  who  has  thought  to  convey,  the  congregation 


34 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


looks  up  with  surprised  inierest  aiid  tliinks,  ^^Why, 
really,  what  a  remarkable  chapter  that  is ! ' ' 

What  I  have  elaborated  in  regard  to  the  reading  of 
preachers  is  true  generally  of  the  reading  of  other  speak- 
ers. Whenever  a  speaker  in  court  or  on  the  platform  be- 
gins to  read  a  quotation,  the  audience  is  likely  to  suspend 
listening  until  the  speaker  explains  the  meaning  of  what 
he  has  read. 

The  conversational  element  in  speaking  from  manu- 
script. The  speaker  with  manuscript  in  hand  is  pecul- 
iarly tempted  to  repeat  empty  words,  because  it  is  so  easy 
for  him  to  do  so.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  recognize  and 
pronounce  words  without  any  recognition  of  their  con- 
tents. Yet  speaking  from  manuscript  need  not  be  empty 
and  monotonous.  It  may  be  lively  and  communicative, 
if  the  speaker  exerts  himself  to  think  and  keep  in  touch 
jwith  his  hearers. 

I  When  speaking  from  memory.  The  reading  speaker  is 
not  popular,  but  by  no  means  all  readers  carry  manu- 
script to  the  platform.  The  speaker  who  memorizes 
should  succeed  better  than  the  speaker  v/ith  manuscript ; 
for  he  can  better  keep  in  touch  with  his  audience.  As 
compared  with  the  extemporaneous  speaker,  he  is  freed 
from  the  harassing  necessity  of  choosing  ideas  and  words 
from  the  many  offering  themselves,  and  from  the  neces- 
sity of  determining  order.  He  can,  therefore,  give  all  his 
mind  to  presenting  his  thought  to  his  audience.  Prob- 
ably, much  as  we  admire  the  ability  to  speak  extempore 
and  necessary  as  it  is  to  the  well-equipped  speaker,  most 
of  the  great  speeches  have  been  delivered  memoriter. 
But  too  often  one  who  delivers  a  memorized  speech  really 
only  reads,  and  reads  badly,  giving  all  his  mind  to  re- 
calling the  words.  Sometimes  he  is  reading  from  a  man- 
uscript before  his  '^mind's  eye'';  or  his  consciousness 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE 


35 


is  epipty  of  all  but  the  sound  and  feel  of  the  words. ' '  ^ 
This  tendency  to  keep  mere  words  uppermost,  we  must 
earnestly  fight  against.  The  method  by  which  one  mem- 
orizes is  important  and  will  be  treated  later;  but  the 
gist  of  the  matter  is :  hold  yourself  to  the  thought  first, 
last  and  all  the  time,  and  avoid  the  parrot-like  repetition 
of  words. 

Some  hold  that  a  speech  committed  to  memory  cannot 
be  delivered  with  spontaneity;  but  observation  proves 
that  this  is  not  true.  It  has  been  said  concerning  the 
practice  of  George  William  Curtis,  one  of  the  best  speak- 
ers of  the  last  generation:  ^^He  practised  that  perfect 
memorization  which  has  the  virtues  of  extemporization 
without  its  faults. ' '  Higginson  tells  this  story  of  Wen- 
dell Phillips  : 

* '  I  remember  that  after  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration,  in 
which  he  had  so  carried  away  a  conservative  and  critical 
audience  that  they  found  themselves  applauding  tyranni- 
cide before  they  knew  it,  I  said  to  him,  'This  could  not 
have  been  written  out  beforehand,'  and  he  said,  *It  is 
already  in  type  at  the  Advertiser  office.'  I  could  not 
have  believed  it. ' ' 

It  is  all  a  matter  of  re-creating  the  thought,  and  it  is  a 
poor  thought  that  cannot  be  thought  more  than  once. 
A  man  in  earnest,  let  us  say  a  senior  canvassing  for  a 
class  memorial  fund,  or  a  candidate  for  office,  mil  con- 
verse spontaneously  enough  though  he  has  prepared  even 
his  words  and  has  repeated  them  in  a  dozen  different 
conversations.  The  chronic  story  teller  often  finds  his 
adventures  growing  in  thrills  as  the  years  go  by,  if  only 
he  can  find  new  listeners. 

1  "The  difference  between  speaking  sense  and  nonsense  is  this :  in 
the  latter  case,  consciousness  is  empty  of  all  but  the  sound  and  feel 
of  the  words;  in  the  former,  the  words  are  the  expression  of  a  con- 
scious situation,  the  discharge  of  an  aggregate  idea."  Private  letter 
f^^  >hi  Professor  E.  B.  Titcliener,  quoted  by  permission. 


36 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Whitefield,  one  of  the  greatest  of  preachers,  declared  that  he  v/as 
at  his  best  the  fortieth  time  he  delivered  a  sermon.  The  lecturers 
of  the  Lyceum  and  Chautauqua  platforms  may  repeat  their  ad- 
dresses hundreds  of  times,  and  yet  deliver  them  with  ,  freshness. 
Again,  when  weary  or  indifferent,  the  best  of  them,  for  example, 
Mr.  Bryan,  may  give  you  as  little  sense  of  personal  contact  as  a 
phonograph.  The  book  agent  who  keeps  his  mind  alert  and  is 
keen  about  his  business  will  not  remind  you,  as  some  poorer  solici- 
tors do,  that  his  talk  was  handed  him  by  his  company. 

When  speaking  extemporaneously.  So  indirect  and 
monotonous  is  much  of  the  speaking  by  the  memorizing 
method,  that  it  is  widely  condemned.  The  extempora- 
neous method  is  most  popular  of  all.  It  has  faults  and 
virtues  which  may  be  discussed  later;  but  here  it  is  in 
order  to  point  out  that  not  even  this  method  is  free  from 
the  faults  under  consideration.  We  must  all  know  by 
observation  that  it  is  quite  as  possible  to  make  a  speech 
without  well  controlled  thinking,  as  it  is  to  converse  with- 
out knowing  what  we  are  talking  about.''  The  extem- 
porizer's  mind  is  more  likely  to  be  active;  but  under  the 
stress  of  choosing  and  rejecting,  he  may  fall  into  con- 
fusion. Any  experienced  speaker  knows  how  possible  it 
is  to  talk  on  without  knowing  at  the  end  of  a  period  what 
he  has  been  saying.  Extraneous  thoughts  come, — an  en- 
gagement forgotten,  the  train  to  be  caught,  disturbances 
in  the  audience, — ^yet  the  speaker  talks  on,  probably  form- 
ing grammatical  sentences,  but  rambling  and  '^marking 
time."  Again,  the  effort  of  thinking  out  a  point  not 
thoroughly  mastered  before,  or  consideration  of  a  point 
now  first  presenting  itself,  may  throw  him  into  a  reflect- 
ive frame  of  mind;  his  thought  loses  the  objective  char- 
acter needed.  As  a  result  he  breaks  contact  with  his 
audience  and  soliloquizes. 

r  The  extemporaneous  speaker,  therefore,  needs  quite  as 
inuch  as  others,  a  firmly  fixed  habit  of  always  holding 
Ijiis  mind  firmly  to  the  matter  in  hand  ^nd  of  speaking 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE 


directly  to  his  audience.  To  fix  this  habit  requires  i 
most  persons  time  and  practice.  The  beginner  has 
develop  his  powers,  as  does  the  athlete, — powers  whi^.^ 
serve  well  enough  for  ordinary  purposes,  but  not  for 
extra  strain.  Until  this  habit  is  fixed  and  he  has  found 
himself  as  a  speaker,  the  student  should  avoid  all  methods 
that  tend  to  draw  him  away  from  the  fundamentals. 

With  special  reference  to  directness.  More  speakers  . 
fail  in  the  second  conversational  element  than  in  the  first. 
It  is  highly  important  that  we  understand  the  distinction 
between  communicative  and  non-communicative,  or  direct 
and  indirect,  speaking, — a  distinction  more  easy  to  feel 
than  to  put  into  words.  "We  hear  a  speaker,  perhaps  we 
follow  his  thought,  yet  we  do  not  feel  he  has  business 
with  us.  If  he  asks  questions,  we  do  not  feel  provoked 
to  reply  even  mentally.  We  are  not  participators,  but 
idle  spectators.  There  is  no  challenge  to  our  attention. 
With  another  speaker  we  feel  contact.  It  has  been  said  ^ 
of  Count  Okuma,  the  Japanese  statesman:  ^^It  is  easy 
to  understand  the  delight  with  which  he  is  always  heard 
upon  the  platform.  He  is  master  of  the  art  of  being  in- 
timate with  his  audience — which  is  the  secret  ...  of  the 
highest  quality  of  public  speaking. ' ' 

We  may  follow  a  speaker  who  lacks  directness  of  de- 
livery, from  sheer  interest  in  the  subject-matter,  or  from 
a  sense  of  duty ;  but  our  attention  is  not  due  to  delivery. 
Such  attention  is  wearying  and  can  hardly  be  expected 
from  the  average  audience.  The  thought  may  be  worthy, 
the  language  fitting,  the  delivery  may  be  otherwise  good, 
— voice  clear  and  pleasing  and  the  modulation  true ;  and 
yet  lacking  the  communicative  element,  the  speaking  does 
not  reach  or  grip.  It  may  be  the  speaker  is  thinking 
intently,  but  as  he  lacks  touch  with  his  audience,  his 

1  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie  iu  the  Outlook,  June  14,  1913,  p.  331. 


38 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


speech  is  only  soliloquy.  We  say  of  another  speaker, 
''He  talks  over  our  heads'';  and  this  points  to  more  th  r 
the  character  of  thought  or  vocabulary.  The  ^peal- 
may  literally  talk  and  look  over  our  heads ;  or,  though  bis 
eyes  are  turned  toward  us,  he  may  be  practically  unco  i- 
scious  of  our  presence.  Some  advance  from  soliloquy  to 
monologue  and  talk  at  us,  or  thunder  at  us. 
A  But  true  speech  is  a  dialogue ;  better  even  than  talking 
to  us  is  talking  with  us. )  It  is  conversation  with  an  audi- 
ence. The  audience  is  conceived  of  by  the  speaker  as 
responding,  asking  questions,  approving  and  disapprov- 
ing. He  dwells  on  an  idea  till  he  is  sure  of  the  response. 
He  never  follows  his  own  train  of  thought  to  the  ignor- 
ing of  the  thoughts  of  his  hearers,  'this  conception 
F  brings  into  the  speaker's  voice  thjg.  tone  we  call  direct  or 
communicative.  \ 

We  should  mate  sure,  in  our  efforts  to  be  direct,  that 
this  tone  springs  from  mental  attitude,  from  a  felt  con- 
tact with  our  hearers;  for  it,  no  more  than  other  tones, 
should  be  assumed  as  a  trick  of  delivery.  The  attempt 
to  put  on  directness  is  likely  to  result  in  an  over-familiar, 
confidential,  or  wheedlin  g  tone  which  is  most  objection- 
able. 

It  takes  courage  and  self-control  to  speak  straight  to  an 
audience.  This  is  not  because  of  embarrassment  merely, 
but  because  of  the  necessity  of  commanding  and  direct- 
ing the  thoughts  of  many.  There  are  times  when  the 
speaker  feels  that  it  is  his  will  against  the  combined  wills 
of  his  hearers.  The  point  was  well  put  by  a  former 
student  who,  from  being  a  rather  weak  speaker  in  college, 
developed  a  direct  and  effective  style  while  preaching  to 
western  cowboys :  ' '  I  tell  you,  when  your  congregation 
may  jump  out  of  a  window  or  dance  in  the  aisle  if  you 
lose  control,  you  have  to  gri^p  them!"    If  the  speaker 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  3d 


weakens  and  retires  within  himself,  he  quickly  loses  con- 
trol and  a  restless  inattention  ensues  almost  as  distressing 
as  these  ''wild  and  woolly''  extremes.  Said  President 
Stryker  of  Hamilton  College,  at  his  best  an  orator  of 
great  power,  ' '  It  is  four-fifths  will  power. ' ' 

We  should  emphasize  in  connection  with  directness, 
the  effect  of  the  eye,  which. i^fluite  as  important  as  the 
voice  in  maintaining:  conj:ac|L  The  speaker^  shtuld  l«#k 
at  his  hearers  squarely^^ J^Jo^dodging  will  dtr;  nVlbi&king 
just  over  their  heads,  or  dowiTthe^alsle,  or  at  a  friendly 
post.  The  speaker  who  meets  the  eyes  of  his  hearers  will 
rarely  see  their  eyes  turn  away  from  him  and  he  will 
rarely  lose  contact.  But  the  temptation  is  often  strong 
upon  the  young  speaker  to  turn  away ;  not  merely  because 
of  nervousness,  but  also  because  the  necessity  of  think- 
ing tempts  him  to  drop  his  eyes  to  the  floor,  or  raise  them 
to  the  ceiling.  But  the  time  for  meditation  has  passed ; 
his  facts,  arguments  and  conclusions  should  be  clearly 
arranged  in  his  mind.  His  thinking  now  should  be  of 
that  objective  sort  that  is  best  stimulated  by  contact  with 
his  audience.  Of  course  a  speaker  who  has  no  opportu- 
nity to  prepare,  may  be  pardoytxti  if  he  fails  to  observe 
this  rule,  and  those  who  speak  from  notes  cannot ;  but  the 
loss  of  force  is  easily  noted. 

While  a  speaker  should  avoid  a  constantly  shifting  gaze, 
he  should  neglect  no  part  of  his  audience.  The  part 
directly  in  front  should  receive  most  attention.  Many 
speakers  develop  a  bad  habit  of  addressing  one  side  of  an 
audience  nearly  all  the  time,  with  but  glances  at  the  other. 
The  neglected  side  soon  grows  restless.  Do  not  let  an 
habitual  posture  cause  you  to  neglect  any  part  of  your 
audience.    Make  all  feel  that  you  are  talking  with  them. 

V3nder,"  said  a  freshman,  ''why  Prexy  preaches  all 
his  s  tmons  at  me. ' '    "  Why, ' '  replied  his  friend  who  sat 


40 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


on  the  other  side  of  the  chapel,  ' '  I  thought  Prex.  aimed 
them  all  at  me ! ' '  It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  above 
that  a  speaker  should  stride  forward  with  a  fierce  gaze 
and  an  ^^I-am-going-to-make-you-listen''  air.  It  must  be 
strength  with  ease,  and  self-confidence  with  respect  for 
others, — ^'a  gentleman  conversing." 

Restraint  and  half -directness,  Many  beginners  speak 
in  a  half -direct  way.  They  are  not  entirely  lacking  in 
the  sense  of  communication ;  but  they  do  not  come  out  of 
themselves  and  vigorously  take  command  of  their  hearers' 
attention.  Sometimesi  they  defend  themselves  against 
criticism  by  declaring  that  they  do  not  like  noisy,  de- 
monstrative speaking,  thus  showing  that  they  mistake  the 
critic's  point.  It  is  true  that  one  may  be  effective  with- 
out noisiness.  There  is  a  quiet  directness  which  is  highly 
effective;  but  we  should  not,  as  some  do,  make  mere 
quietness  an  end  in  itself.  A  quiet  delivery  which  fails 
to  hold  attention  is  certainly  not  desirable.  We  wish  al- 
ways to  have  our  words  listened  to  and  accepted,  and 
usually  there  is  needed  a  display  of  frank  earnestness.  , 
Quiet  force  is  good ;  but  be  sure  there  is  force,  not  indif -  ; 
ference.  Self-restraint  is  not  the  same  as  self-control; 
freedom  is  consistent  with  dignity. 

The  beginner,  moreover,  is  rarely  able  to  command  the  i 
quieter  force.    He  gets  on  much  faster  if  he  throws  off  I 
restraint.    To  this  end,  I  urge  in  particular  that  he  5 
should  indulge  in  great  freedom  of  action  (quite  regard- 
less of  whether  he  makes  good  gestures  or  not)  ;  for 
without  free  action  most  never  arrive  at  genuine  direct- 
ness.   As  a  result  of  dropping  restraint,  the  bei^hiner 
may  speak  with  needless  loudness  and  exaggeralt  d  ac-  ' 
tion ;  but  if  he  will  keep  trying  to  communicate  arid  im-  \ 
press  his  ideas,  he  will  soon  acquire  the  feeling  of  direct  ] 
speech  with  an  audience,  and  will  find  that  he  ca pre*  , 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  41 


serve  this  as  he  tones  down  to  a  more  composed  man- 
ner. 

We  may  well  note  at  this  point  that  this  quality  of  communica^ 
tiveness  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  delivery.  Much  depends  upon 
composition,  upon  how  the  ideas  are  put  into  words,  and  very  much 
upon  the  character  of  the  ideas  themselves.  This  last  will  grow 
clearer  before  we  reach  the  final  chapter. 

Conversational  delivery  not  necessarily  good.  There  is 
a  strong  tendency  to  assume  at  this  point  that  when  a 
speaker  has  succeeded  in  reproducing  conversational 
mental  conditions  upon  the  platform,  then  his  deliv-- 
ery  will  be  perfect,  or  *^good  enough'';  and  likewise  a 
tendency,  when  asked  to  explain  conversational  public 
speaking,  to  ascribe  to  it  all  the  virtues  a  speaker  may 
possess.  VBut  it  is  obvious  that  if  one 's  conversation  has 
defects,  his  enlarged  conversation  may  have  these  de- 
fects enlarged.  |  Faulty  pronunciation,  indistinct  enunci- 
ation, nasal  or  provincial  twang,  throaty  tones,  lack  of 
range  or  of  agility  of  voice,  are  but  examples  of  faults 
that  may  be  transferred  to  the  platform.  A  rational 
study  of  technique  may  be  beneficial  after  the  first  suc- 
cess is  won.  A  rational  study  of  technique  requires  that 
the  student  shall  never  look  upon  technical  matters  as  of 
first  importance,  though  they  are  often  very  important 
indeed.  It  is  due  in  part  to  over-emphasis  of  technique 
that  the  elocutionist  often  falls  under  the  condemnation 
of  sensible  folk.  One  reason  for  insisting  that  the  class 
of  faults  mentioned  in  this  paragraph  should  be  at- 
\  tended  to  after  rather  than  before  conversational  condi- 
tions are  secured,  is  that  we  are  prone  to  feel  that  the 
part  of  a  subject  which  we  take  up  first  is  the  most 
fundamental.  It  would  seem  that  many  never  get  be- 
yond the  conception  that  public  speaking  is  entirely  a 
matter  of  the  manipulation  of  voice  and  gesture. 


42 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


We  were  speaking  in  the  last  paragraph  of  faults  ^^/^ 
delivery.    There  are  of  course  many  other  reasons  why  i 
speaker  whose  delivery  is  thoroughly  conversational,  ma-' 
yet  be  a  poor  speaker.    He  may  have  a  weak  vocabr 
larly,  or  careless  habits  of  thought  and  composition;  he 
may  lack  information  and  ideas,  or  understanding  of 
audiences;  he  may  be  deficient  in  imagination,  earnest- 
ness and  strength;  he  may  have  an  unpleasant  person- 
ality. 

It  should  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  many  of  these 
faults  tend  to  disappear  when  public  speaking  is  thought 
of  as  a  larger  conversation.  For  example,  one  earnestly 
reaching  out  for  the  understanding  of  one's  audience, 
will  make  more  effort  to  be  distinct  than  in  ordinary  con- 
versation ;  and  often  effort  is  all  that  is  needed.  Nervous- 
ness may  cause  a  speaker  to  use  his  voice  badly;  but  it 
is  clear  that  he  is  less  liable  to  this  fault  when  he  looks 
upon  public  speech  as  a  larger  conversation,  calling  for 
a  normal  use  of  his  voice,  than  if  he  assumes  strange 
tones.  If  our  young  speaker  talks  too  rapidly, — and  no 
fault  is  more  common  with  beginners, — a  direct  attempt 
on  his  part  to  slow  down  often  results  in  increase  rather 
than  decrease  of  rate.  But  if  a  speaker  holds  himself  to 
a  full  realization  of  the  content  of  his  words,  he  will  pause 
much  of  necessity ;  and  if  he  is  earnestly  striving  to  talk 
with  his  audience,  he  will  soon  realize  that  an  audience 
cannot  be  carried  so  rapidly  as  one  listener.  Deliberation 
will  be  the  natural  result.  Again,  if  a  speaker  comes 
into  intimate  contact  with  his  hearers,  he  is  more  likely 
to  observe  what  manner  of  persons  they  are  and  adapt 
his  message  to  their  understanding,  beliefs  and  feelings. 

How  the  student  should  begin.  We  shall  proceed  to 
more  definite  suggestions;  but  we  have  already  enough 
for  a  practical  beginning.  iThe  first  thing  the  beginner 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  43 


i  to  do  is  to  gain  the  power  to  stand  up  and  talk  with 
,  audience.  /  Many  will  not  find  this  easy,  some  because 
of  embarrassment  and  some  because  of  bad  habits  already 
established.  In  any  case  the  effort  should  be  to  accentu- 
ate the  mental  conditions  of  conversation.  In  the  meas- 
ure in  which  the  student  succeeds  in  doing  this  he  will 
succeed  in  expressing  his  ideas  with  true  emphasis,  in- 
flection, etc.  (The  doctrine  of  this  chapter  goes  much 
further  than  delivery  in  this  narrow  sense,  but  we  shall 
limit  ourselves  to  this  here.)  If  at  first  he  does  not 
succeed,  he  must  keep  on  trying.  The  chief  remedy  for 
failure  to  express  is  more  thinking,  a  firmer,  more  com- 
plete grasp  of  the  ideas  and  more  effort  to  ta^k  with  his 
hearers.  He  must  not  let  mere  words  fill  his  mind, 
^''ords  he  must  have,  but  they  must  remain  subordinate 
to  the  thought.  He  must  establish  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing no  phrase  until  its  meaning  is  distinct  in  his  mind. 
And,  as  will  become  clear  in  the  following  chapters,  the 
thiiaki^n^  indicated  in  this  chapter  is  not  a  mere  dry,  cold 
process,  but  is  to  be  taken  broadly  as  including  imagi- 
nation and  feeling.  To  carry  out  these  suggestions, 
the  student  should  at  once  prepare  simple  speeches  and 
deliver  them  to  whatever  audiences  are  available. 

Much  practice  needed.  Mental  habits  need  forming 
and  reforming.  Long  practice  may  be  needed,  too,  be- 
fore the  expression,  though  correct,  will  be  adequate. 
We  often  wish  to  express  a  wider  range  of  thoughts  and 
feelings  on  the  platform  than  in  conversation.  This 
fact  makes  necessary  the  development  of  the  power  of 
expression.  To  this  end  we  need  not  practise  on  a  ''set'' 
of  tones,  such  as  ''low  aspirate  oratund"  and  "high, 
pure,  aspirate,  fast";  but  we  may  wisely  practise  ex- 
pressing a  large  variety  of  ideas  and  sentiments,  using 
both  our  Q  wa  productions  and  those  of  others  which  w^ 


44 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


have  assimilated.  In  such  practice  we  should  always 
seek  the  right  expression  by  means  of  a  firm  grasp  of  con- 
tent and  the  effort  to  communicate  directly  to  auditors, 
real  or  imaginary.  (An  imagined  audience  is  very 
patient  and  helpful  for  practice  purposes.)  As  a  result, 
we  shall  find  the  response  of  voice  to  mind  growing  more 
prompt,  certain  and  satisfying.  And  since,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  effort  to  express  develops  that  which  we  seek 
to  express,  we  shall  find  in  such  practice  that  harmoni- 
ous development  of  thought,  feeling  and  voice  which  is 
the  truest  vocal  training. 

The  place  of  voice  training.  To  this  may  be  addei 
the  physical  training  of  breathing  and  other  exercises 
for  strengthening,  purifying  and  freeing  the  voice.  Ad  > 
exercises  for  bettering  the  response  of  voice  and  mus<^l^ 
to  the  action  of  the  mind  may  be  w^elcomed ;  provided 
ways  that  we  never  confuse  ourselves  with  the  nrjtioi 
that  somehow  these  means  are  public  speaking,  that  we  do 
not  think  of  such  means  at  all  when  speaking,  a^vJ  never 
try  to  substitute  them  for  thinking.  Exercises  siiOuM  be 
employed  strictly  as  exercises ;  and  it  is  best  that  .they 
should  be  kept  back  until  the  beginner  has  gained  the 
power  to  maintain  conversational  conditions  upon  tha 
platform,  through  actual  practice  in  addressing  the  class 
or  some  other  audience. 

For  further  treatment  of  voice  training,  see  Chapter  XA'TI. 

Do  not  be  mechanical.  If  you  have  understood  the 
foregoing,  you  will  see  that  there  is  no  place  in  our 
scheme  for  the  mechanical  stressing  of  word3,  pausing 
and  the  like.  If  you  have  made  a  practice  of  consciously* 
fixing  emphasis,  pause  and  inflection,  abandoii  the  prac- 
tice. It  is  unnecessary  and  it  will  hinder  you  in  ac- 
quiring the  right  mental  attitude.    If  thcrt^  is  time 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  45 


for  that  practice  at  all,  it  is  not  at  this  stage.  It  is  un- 
necessary for  reah  ^as  already  stated.  The  voice  reflects 
the  mind  with  re:  arkable  fidelity.  ^ ^Expression/'  says 
Cicero,  ^^is  always  perfect."  A  clear  thought  is  clear  in 
expression,  and  a  hazy  thought  is  hazy  in  expression. 
Our  voices  respond  promptly  and  instinctively  to  our 
changing  thoughts,  feelings  and  moods,  and  to  the  vary- 
ing situations  in  which  we  find  ourselves.  As  a  rule  we 
take  no  thought  of  emphasis,  pause,  inflection  and  tone; 
yet  the  expression  comes  true.  When  we  do  take  thought 
of  it,  it  is  most  often  not  to  express  ourselves  better,  but 
to  conceal  indifference,  eagerness,  dislike,  fear,  or  other 
mood.  Wrong  emphasis  is  due  to  failure  at  the  moment 
to  discriminate  values ;  wrong  pausing  is  due  to  failure  to 
distinguish  the  units  of  thought;  the  wrong  tone  is 
prompted  by  the  wrong  feeling.  The  remedy  is  com- 
plete thinking  and  sincere  feeling.  The  voice  ordinarily 
responds  without  conscious  direction  because  this  is  one 
of  the  earliest  reactions  fixed  in  the  nervous  system. 
Why  should  not  this  response  be  as  true  in  public  as  in 

■  private  speech,  provided  we  can  maintain  upon  the  plat- 

.  form  conversational  mental  conditions  ? 

Mechanical  methods  of  expression  have  been  reduced 
to  rules,  which  I  refer  to  only  because  many  readers  of 
these  pages  may  have  had  experience  with  them.  For 
example,  a  rule  states  that  a  conditional  clause  should 
end  with  a  rising  inflection.  In  speaking  the  sentence, 
*'If  I  go  down  to\ra,  I  will  do  your  errand,"  the  voice 
should  rise  at  town.    We  may  admit  that  this  is  usually 

!  'true,  yet  insist  that  the  rule  is  both  unnecessary  and  a 
positive  evil.  Both  points  are  vigorously  put  by  Nathan 
Shepard :  ^ 

1  Before  an  Audience^  p.  69. 


46  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Another  of  the  rules  of  the  elocutionist  is:  *  Pause 
before  and  after  the  emphatic  word  and  put  a  circum- 
flex upon  it. ' 

Where  did  you  get  this  rule?    From  conversation. 
Finding  that  we  do  this  naturally,  let  us  do  it  mechanic- 
ally.   We  do  it  by  instinct  in  private  talking,  let  us  do  it 
by  rule  in  public  speaking.    Finding  that  while  eating, 
^very  time  your  elbow  bends  your  mouth  flies  open, 
heref ore  this  rule :    When  your  elbow  bends,  open  your 
louth.  ...  If  you  deprive  the  speaker  of  his  pauses 
id  emphasis  and  inflections,  what  is  left  for  his  brains  ? ' ' 

I  ^  The  last  sentence  touches  the  greatest  evil  in  all  me- 
*^x.  lanical  methods:  They  check  thinking.  If  we  fix  the 
precise  manner  in  which  a  sentence  shall  be  delivered 
and  then,  as  is  usually  done,  drill  this  delivery  till  there  is 
no  danger  that  the  vocal  organs  will  perform  otherwise 
than  in  the  manner  prescribed,  what  indeed  is  there  left 
for  the  speaker's  brains  ?  This  easy  substitute  for  think- 
ing is  usually  relied  upon ;  and  this  is  the  more  true  be- 
cause the  student  of  mechanical  training  rarely  conceives 
of  speaking  as  other  than  a  matter  of  making  his  voice 
and  hands  go  right.  He  manipulates  his  voice  as  an 
organist  manipulates  his  instrument,  and  when  he 
changes  his  tones  for  this  or  that  emotion,  you  almost 
see  him  pushing  and  pulling  the  stops.  But  instru- 
mental music  is  an  artifical  matter,  while  the  response  of 
voice  and  gesture  to  thought  and  feeling  is  a  matter 
of  the  deepest  instincts  of  our  nature,  and  mechanical 
methods,  which  are  a  necessity  to  the  musician,  are  a 
positive  hindrance  to  the  speaker.  Besides,  the  rules  are 
only  half  true;  they  conventionalize  speech;  and  they 
are  cumbersome  and  needless.  The  agents  of  expression 
will  respond  to  right  mental  action ;  let  us  therefore  at- 
tend to  the  thinking.  If  at  first  the  unfamiliar  condi- 
tions of  the  platform  may  interfere,  the  remedy  is  not 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  47 


an  arbitrary  substitute  for  thought,  but  more  thinking 
and  truer  feeling. 

One  particularly  bad  form  of  the  mechanical  method  is " 
that  which  marks  on  the  speaker 's  manuscript  the  pauses, 
inflections,  tones,  gestures  and  emphatic  words.  Follow- 
ing out  such  a  scheme  takes  the  mind  off  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  puts  attention  upon  a  mechanism,  interferes 
with  the  sense  of  communication,  and  in  general  has  all 
the  faults  of  mechanical  method  in  the  most  definite  form. 

Tig  T]9t  imitate.  Mechanical  methods  do  call  for  some 
study  on  the  part  of  the  student;  but  the  method  of 
learning  delivery  by  imitation  of  another  lacks  even  this 
redeeming  feature.  It  relieves  from  all  necessity  for 
thinking,  and  trains  to  absent-minded  delivery.  More- 
over, when  a  student  has  delivered  one  speech  by  imita- 
tion, he  is  helpless  when  he  attempts  another.  But  worst 
of  all  is  the  suppression  of  his  own  individuality. 

Fight  against  it  as  we  may,  there  is  nothing  better  for 
any  one  of  us  than  his  own  individuality,  developed  and 
improved.  ^David  cannot  fight  in  Saul 's  armor,  nor  is  the 
ass  a  success  in  the  lion's  skinTJ  It  is  the  fate  of  the  imi- 
tator to  copy  the  mannerism  and  miss  the  spirit.  The 
result  is  caricature.  What  Schopenhauer  says  of  style 
in  writing  can  be  applied  to  delivery :  ^ '  Style  is  the  phy- 
siognomy of  the  mind,  and  a  safer  index  to  character  than 
the  face.  To  imitate  another  man's  style  is  like  wear- 
ing a  mask,  which,  be  it  never  so  fine,  is  not  long  in  arous- 
ing disgust  and  abhorrence,  because  it  is  lifeless ;  so  that 
even  the  ugliest  face  is  better. ' '  In  the  words  of  Wack- 
ernagel,  Style  is  no  lifeless  mask  laid  upon  the  sub- 
stance of  thought;  it  is  the  living  play  of  countenance, 
produced  by  the  expressive  soul  within. ' '  These  brilliant 
statemQ^ts  of  Buffon's  thought,  Style  is  the  man  him- 
self, ' '  are  more  true  of  delivery  than  of  composition ;  be- 


48 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


cause  delivery  is  a  more  instinctive  and  intimate  ex- 
pression of  personality  than  printed  words. 

In  eondemning  conscious  imitation  as  a  method  of  learning  to 
speak  in  public,  I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  we  learn  to  talk 
in  the  first  place  largely  by  unconscious  imitation  and  that  imita- 
tion is  a  large  factor  in  education.  It  may  be  admitted  that  in 
treating  some  special  minor  faults,  imitation  may  be  valuable  as 
a  last  resort.  It  is  the  easiest  of  all  methods  for  the  teacher,  and 
may  be  justified  sometimes  when  quick  formal  results  are  neces- 
sary. There  are  some  who  are  slow  in  responding  to  other  meth- 
ods. But  all  this  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  imitation  is  the 
poorest  of  methods  and  disappointing  in  the  long  run ;  for  it  does 
not  ordinarily  set  the  student  on  a  course  of  normal  development. 
And  for  those  mentally  able  to  ''run  alone,"  it  is  well-nigh  dis- 
graceful. No  man  with  proper  self-respect  will  be  content  to  fol- 
low, as  his  principal  method,  imitation,  even  of  the  best ;  and,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  the  imitator  must  usually  imitate  the  medi-' 
ocre. 

I  recognize  the  fact  that  students  have  learned  to  speak  well  by 
<ill  sorts  of  methods  and  by  no  method.  But  as  there  are  ways  and 
ways,  I  have  tried  to  show  you  the  way  which  after  eighteen  years 
of  experience  as  a  teacher,  I  believe  promises  the  least  waste  of 
effort  and  the  surest  arrival.  Nevertheless,  the  way  is  not  an  easy 
one ;  Think  is  its  "open-sesame" ;  and  while  we  teachers  can  lead 
you  to  the  platform  we  cannot  make  you  think. 

Looking  forward.  We  carry  forward  from  this  chapter 
an  understanding  of  the  general  problem  of  delivery; 
but  we  have  as  yet  comparatively  little  to  aid  us  in  carry- 
ing out  the  suggestion, /'Think  as  you  speak. It  is 
quite  possible  for  us  to  think  that  we  think  very  hard  and 
yet  succeed  only  in  deeply  furrowing  our  brows.  We 
must  make  not  only  an  effort,  but  an  intelligent  effort. 
To  this  end  we  shall  study  in  the  following  chapters  how 
our  minds  work  and  the  nature  of  audiences.  We  shall 
consider  most  of  the  speaker's  problems,  of  which  de- 
livery is  but  one ;  and  we  shall  find  that  thinking  on  our 
feet  is  a  relatively  easy  matter  when  thinking  in  prepa- 
ration has  been  of  the  right  sort,  and  that  we  are  greatly 


CONVERSING  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  49 


helped  in  talking  with  our  hearers  when  we  understand 
the  needs  and  nature  of  audiences  and  come  before  them 
with  definite  purposes  and  speeches  adapted  to  their 
interests. 

Note  to  Teachers. — In  the  final  chapters  we  shall  consider 
^'thinking  on  one's  feet''  in  a  rather  detailed  way,  venturing  as  far 
into  the  technique  of  delivery  as  I  deem  it  wise  to  go  with  a  class 
in  practical  public  speaking,  at  least  on  paper.  Other  teachers 
may  find  good  reasons  for  differing  with  me. 

Teachers  will  differ,  also,  with  regard  to  the  time  of  introducing 
the  work  of  Chapters  XIIT-XVII.  I  have  found  it  good  practice 
to  introduce  Chapter  XIII  as  soon  as  my  class  has  digested  Chap- 
ter II  and  has  acquired  some  experience  in  outlining  and  speaking. 


CHAPTER  III 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 

Many  of  the  problems  of  public  speaking,  plainly 
enough,  are  related  to  attention.  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  evident  that  the  primary  aim  of  a  speaker  is  to  hold 
the  attention  of  his  audience.  Secondly,  as  we  consid- 
ered in  the  preceding  chapter,  one  of  the  essentials  of 
good  speaking  is  *  thinking  at  the  instant  of  delivery.'' 
And,  thirdly,  as  in  all  studies,  we  need  power  of  atten- 
tion in  the  preparation  of  speeches.  Throughout  this 
subject,  then,  we  shall  need  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  attention. 

Both  clearness  and  vividness  needed.  That  clearness 
of  thought  is  necessary  is  plain ;  for  attention  cannot  be 
sustained  upon  confused  ideas.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
when  a  speaker  goes  to  pieces,  the  reason  lies  in  lack  of 
clarity  of  thinking,  particularly  in  lack  of  clear  tran- 
sitions. The  audience  will  soon  give  up  the  attempt 
to  follow  confused  discourse.  But  more  than  cold  clear- 
ness is  needed ;  our  ideas  should  have  a  vividness  that  com- 
mands attention.^  This  truth  needs  emphasis  as  applied 
to  the  speaker  himself.  ''The  one  prime  requisite,"  says 
Professor  Titchener,^  * '  is  self -f orgetf ulness,  absorption  in 
the  subject  for  its  own  sake, — such  forgetfulness  as  shall 
leave  one  as  unconcerned  before  an  audience  as  in  one's 
study.  ...  I  know  of  no  golden  rule^  still  less  of  any 

1  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  a  distinction  found  nsoful  by  a  teacher 
of  public  speaking-,  is  sustained  by  so  good  an  authority  as  De- 
Garmo.    Interest  and  Education,  x).  144. 

2  From  a  private  letter,  quoted  by  permission. 

50 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


51 


royal  roac ;  Inaccuracy,  carelessness,  half-devotion, — 
these  are  the  bane  of  our  students ;  once  a  man  is  earnest 
enough  to  forget  himself ,  to  be  ready  to  laugh  at  himself 
with  the  audience  without  losing  his  head,  to  forget 
how  he  looks  and  feels,  he  is  successful  and  persuasive 
with  or  without  technical  knowledge  and  practice ;  though 
of  course  these  things  are  assets,  if  he  has  them. ' '  What 
the  speaker  needs,  then,  is  such  preparation  that  his  ideas 
will  command  his  attention,  and  a,waken  him  to  energetic 
thinking  and  earnestness. 

What  makes  an  idea  strong  in  the  battle  for  attention  ? 
At  any  moment  there  are  innumerable  ider^s  and  sen- 
sations struggling  to  get  into  the  focus  of  your  attentioi:^ 
The  strongest — that  is,  the  strongest  at  the  moment — 
wins.  To  understand  how  and  why  ideas  gain  strength 
to  command,  we  need  to  know  more  of  the  nature  of 
attention. 

The  forms  of  attention.  Although  there  is  but  one 
attention,  it  may  be  considered  in  three  aspects.  When 
we  attend  to  an  object  without  conscious  effort,  our  at- 
tention is  said  to  be  involuntary,  or  passive,  or  primary, 
— there  being  no  generally  accepted  term.  When  wef 
make  an  effort  to  attend,  our  attention  is  said  to  be  volun- 
tary, or  active,  or  secondary.  We  shall  use  the  terms 
primary  and  secondary. 

^ ''There  are  some  things  that  we  must  attend  to, 
whether  we  will  or  no.  .  .  .  Such  are  loud  sounds  and 
brilliant  lights;  things  that  move  amidst  unmoving  sur- 
roundings;  things  that  for  some  reason  contrast  with 
their  surroundings."  This  is  the  primary  attention,  so 
called  because  it  is  the  attention  we  have  first  as  infants, 
the  kind  we  have  in  common  with  animals. 

1  The  quotations  are  from  Titchener's  Primer  of  Psychology,  pp. 
76-80,  but  the  terms  adopted  are  from  his  later  Textbook  of 
Psychology, 


52 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


' '  Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  we  seem  to  be  holding 
our  mind  upon  an  object  by  main  force.  .  .  .  Thus  we 
may  listen  intently  to  a  very  faint  sound,  a  sound  that 
under  ordinary  circumstances  would  have  no  power  what- 
ever to  attract  the  attention ;  or  we  may  note  the  minute 
differences  between  two  shells  or  two  plants,  finding  dis- 
tinctions where  the  ordinary  uninterested  observer  would 
find  nothing  but  similarit}^"  This  is  called  secondary 
attention.  It  develops  from  primary  attention  as  a  re- 
sult of  training;  and  it  always  involves  effort.  ^^The 
list  of  things  we  must  attend  to  is  not  very  long.  And 
things  not  in  the  list  cannot,  of  course,  attract  the  atten- 
tion so  forcibly.  Hence  attention  to  them  is  .  .  .  atten- 
tion under  difficulties,  attention  with  several  claimants 
^ipon  consciousness.    The  strongest  idea  wins.  " 

This  secondary  or  active  attention,  however,  may  pass 
over  into  primary,  or  passive.  ^^The  man  of  science 
who  is  comparing  shells  or  plants  may  become  so  ob- 
sorbed  in  his  work  that  he  forgets  his  dinner  or  misses 
an  appointment ;  his  mind  is  held  as  firmly  by  his  work 
as  it  could  be  by  a  loud  sound  or  a  movement.  In  such 
a  case,  an  object  which  has  no  right  of  its  own  to  engross 
consciousness  has  gained  this  right  in  course  of  time  and 
practice.  At  first  attended  to  actively,  with  an  effort, 
and  barely  able  to  hold  its  own  against  distracting  ideas, 
it  now  absorbs  the  full  measure  of  attention ;  the  student 
is  buried  or  sunk  in  his  task. ' '  This  attention,  since  it  is 
like  primary  attention  in  being  without  conscious  effort, 
is  called  derived  primary. 

Now,  while  the  power  to  hold  one's  attention  true  is 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  developed  mind,  while 

active  attention  is  the  battle  which  must  be  won  by 
those  who  mean  to  master  their  surroundings  and  rise 
to  man's  full  height  above  the  animal  world,''  and  cer- 
tainly is  highly  important  to  the  public  speaker;  never- 
theless, it  is  easily  seen  that  the  less  the  effort  involved 
in  attending  to  a  given  idea  the  better,  for  the  power 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


53 


of  attention  will  be  less  quickly  exhausted.  Active  at- 
tention appears  as  a  stage  of  waste. ' ' 

Importance  of  derived  primary  attention  to  the  speaker. 
The  speaker  utilizes  the  primary  attention  of  his  hearers ; 
that  is,  he  uses  change,  movement,  etc. :  but  it  is  evident 
that  he  wishes  them  to  attend  to  things  and  ideas  which 
cannot  command  their  primary  attention ;  and,  also,  that 
he  does  not  wish  them  to  listen  with  more  effort  than  is 
necessary,  lest  they  soon  weary.  Again,  notice  especially 
that  the  speaker  himself  should  be  freed  from  the  waste 
of  active  attention,  so  that  amid  the  distractions  of  the 
platform,  his  mind  may  be  held  to  its  complex  task  with 
the  least  possible  effort ;  that  is,  that  his  ideas  should  be  so 
developed  as  to  hold  his  derived  primary  attention,  or  at 
least,  that  they  should  approach  that  stage. 

Training  will  develop  primary  attention  to  a  given  sub- 
ject. After  you  have  specialized  in  a  subject  for  a  time, 
like  the  man  of  science  with  his  shells,  you  find  that  the 
subject  draws  you  almost  irresistibly.  You  try  to  at- 
tend to  some  other  topic  and  the  thought  of  your  hobby 
draws  you  away.  And  nearly  everything  you  see,  hear, 
or  any  way  experience,  suggests  that  hobby  to  you  and 
leads  you  back,  in  spite  of  your  best  intentions,  to  what- 
ever is,  for  the  time  being,  your  special  interest.  This 
may  be  your  life  study  or  vocation ;  or  it  may  be  of  lesser 
importance  to  you,  your  avocation ;  or  it  may  be  a  merely 
temporary  interest. 

Attention  and  interest.  First,  in  considering  how  to 
develop  attention,  we  note  that  attention  and  interest  go 
together.  ^ '  What-we-attend-to  and  what-interests-us  are 
synonymous  terms,  says  James.^  Interest  and  atten- 
tion are  related  as  cause  and  effect,  and  either  may  be  the 

^Psychology:    Briefer  Conrse^  p.  448. 


54 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


cause  of  the  other.  It  is  plain  enough  that  we  attend  to 
what  interests  us ;  but  this  restates  rather  than  solves  our 
problem.  "We  shall  make  more  progress  by  considering 
the  correlative  truth,  ' '  Things  are  interesting  because  we 
attend  to  them. ' '  ^    This  is  true  because — 

Interest  grows  with  knowledge.  ''Interest  grows  with 
knowledge,  and,  in  fact,  is  made  by  knowledge. ' '  ^ 
''One's  permanent  interests,  one's  tendencies  to  attend," 
says  Thorndike,^  "are  largely  dependent  upon  what  one 
has,  on  one  's  permanent  store  of  knowledge.  Ordinarily 
if  one  fills,  his  mind  with  a  subject  he  will  become  inter- 
ested and  attend  to  it. ' '  This  suggests  that  one  may  have 
to  force  attention  to  a  subject  until  knowledge  is  ac- 
quired. 

The  great  scientist  and  teacher,  Agassiz,  handed  a  new  student 
a  fish  to  study  and  report  upon.  Next  day  the  student  came  back 
with  his  task  finished.  The  master  sent  him  back  for  another  day, 
and  then  for  another.  The  student  became  peevish ;  but  soon  with 
increasing  knowledge  he  became  interested,  and  he  studied  the  fish 
for  weeks  with  growing  enthusiasm. 

Derived  interest.  We  are  now  ready  for  the  principle 
which  lies  back  of  the  truth  that  interest  grows  with 
knowledge.  Derived  interest  is  explained  in  a  classic 
statement  in  James's  Talks  to  Teachers,  which  can  read- 
ily be  adapted  to  our  problem : 

"Any  object  not  interesting  in  itself  may  become  in- 
teresting through  being  associated  with  an  object  in  which 
an  interest  already  exists.  The  two  associated  objects 
grow,  as  it  were,  together;  the  interesting  portion  sheds 
its  interest  over  the  whole ;  and  thus  things  not  interest- 
ing in  their  own  right  borrow  an  interest  which  becomes 
as  real  and  as  strong  as  that  of  any  natively  interesting 
thing. 

"...  There  emerges  a  very  simple  abstract  program 

iPillsbury,  A  ttention^  p.  55.    ^  Human  Nature  Cluh^  p.  73. 
2  Idem,  p.  54, 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


55 


for  the  teacher  to  follow  in  keeping  the  attention  of  the 
child :  Begin  with  the  line  of  his  native  interests,  and 
offer  him  objects  that  have  some  immediate  connection 
with  these. 

'*Next,  step  by  step,  connect  with  these  first  objects 
and  experiences  the  later  objects  and  ideas  which  you 
wish  to  instill.  Associate  the  new  with  the  old  in  some 
natural  and  telling  way,  so  that  the  interest,  being  shed 
along  from  point  to  point,  finally  suffuses  the  entire 
system  of  objects  of  thought. 

**If,  then,  you  wish  to  insure  the  interest  of  your 
pupils,  there  is  only  one  way  to  do  it ;  and  that  is  to  make 
certain  that  they  have  in  their  minds  something  to  attend 
with.  .  .  .  That  something  can  consist  in  nothing  but  a 
previous  lot  of  ideas  already  interesting  in  themselves 
and  of  such  a  nature  that  the  incoming  novel  objects 
which  you  present  can  dovetail  into  them  and  form  some 
kind  of  logically  associated  and  systematic  whole." 

Here  then  is  a  major  secret:  to  make  a  dull  subject 
interesting  associate  it  with  something  already  interest- 
ing. "What  that  something  shall  be  depends  upon  the 
individual  mind,  upon  individual  tendencies  and  experi- 
ences. Unless  the  ideas  appealing  for  attention  do  find 
themselves  welcomed  by  related  ideas  already  in  mind, 
they  are  quickly  driven  from  consciousness.  Show  a  boy 
that  physics  can  explain  the  curve  of  a  ball,  or  that  mathe- 
matics has  a  relation  to  his  chosen  career  as  engineer, 
and  you  may  change  a  truant  into  an  eager  student.  The 
dull  subjects  are  now  related  to  his  experience  of  interest- 
ingness. 

While  this  is  the  best  way  to  gain  interest  in  dull  topics,  it  seems 
that  relating-  the  uninteresting  to  any  existing  knowledge  may  win 
interest,  at  least  temporarily;  for  the  mind  takes  interest  in  the 
discovery  of  likeness  and  unlikeness,  and  especially  in  identifica- 
tion. Witness  how  one  looking  at  an  unfamiliar  picture  will  be- 
come enthusiastic  on  discovering  that  it  is  a  new  view  of  a  fa- 
miliar scene,  and  with  what  pleasure  he  identifies  feature  after 
feature  of  the  landscape.    A  boy  studying  his  Bible  lesson  languidly 


56 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


came  quickly  to  attention  on  learning  that  Paul  traversed  the  same 
Italy  the  youngster  had  studied  about  with  equal  languor  in  school. 
There  is  danger,  however,  that  distaste  for  one  subject  may  be 
transferred  to  another  and  that  the  reaction  may  be,  **0h,  that 's 
the  same  old  stuff!" 

The  following  statement  may  add  clearness  by  its  pat  figure.i 

^'Getting  ideas  is  a  system  of  grafting,  and  an  idea  cannot  be 
grafted  on  an  alien  stock.  It  is  the  teacher's  business  to  find  a 
group  of  old  ideas  that  can  receive  the  new.  .  .  .  Budding  and 
grafting  on  to  this  native  stock  is  our  only  possibility.  .  .  .  When 
one  by  training  becomes  able  to  hold  himself  to  the  same  task  of 
thought  for  a  long  time,  it  brings  about  a  sort  of  mono-ideism. 
Ideas  hovering  about  the  central  tliought  continually  come;  all  other 
incongruous  ideas  are  inhibited.  Such  thought  becomes  in  the 
highest  degree  effective." 

So  we  see  that  what  is  needed  is  not  merely  filling  one's 
mind  with  heterogeneous  information,  but  relating  the 
dull  subject  to  existing  interests.  The  more  knowledge 
we  acquire  the  more  relations  we  can  find.  The  dull 
subject  may  prove  to  be  related  to  history,  to  literature, 
to  science,  to  business,  to  sport;  for  it  is  a  trite  saying 
that  any  subject  fully  developed  is  found  to  be  related 
to  every  other  subject.  This  explains  why  it  is  easier  to 
interest  a  well-informed  than  an  ignorant  man  in  a  new 
topic:  he  has  so  many  more  points  of  contact. 

We  may  note  here  that  we  associate  things  or  ideas  sometimes 
because  they  are  alike,  sometimes  because  unlike;  sometimes  be- 
cause they  occur  together  in  time  or  place,  that  is,  by  contiguity ; 
sometimes  because  they  are  related  as  cause  and  effect,  or  have  a 
common  source,  or  because  one  is  necessary  to  the  other,  and  so  on. 

Novelty  and  interest.  That  novelty  attracts  attention 
is  clear  enough ;  so  clear  that  we  need  an  understanding 
of  the  limitations  of  this  truth,  lest  we  overestimate  its 
importance.  Mere  novelty  may  catch,  but  cannot  hold 
attention.  Indeed,  the  extremely  novel  has  less  power 
over  the  mind  than  the  moderately  novel.  Professor 
James  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  *'the  absolutely  new  is  the 

1  Pyle,  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology,  p.  213. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION  57 


absolutely  uninteresting. ' '  Again  he  says,  ' '  We  hate  any- 
thing absolutely  new,  anything  without  a  name,  and  for 
which  a  name  must  be  forged."^  When  a  thing  is 
absolutely  new  we  have  no  points  of  contact  with  it, 
nothing  to  compare,  contrast  and  identify  with  it;  that 
is,  it  gains  no  derived  interest,  and  the  mind  is  baffled. 
The  fact  that  Hebrew  is  read  from  right  to  left  is  not 
interesting  to  a  man  who  does  not  read  at  all.  As  An- 
gell  ^  says,  the  absolutely  new  is  unintelligible.  Royce  ^ 
puts  the  matter  most  clearly : 

Novel  objects,  that  are  otherwise  indifferent,  .  .  . 
tend  to  awake  our  attention  and  to  become  objects  of 
definite  consciousness,  at  the  moment  when  we  are  able 
in  some  respect  to  recognize  them.  Apart  from  some 
decided  importance  which  a  novel  object  possesses  for 
our  feelings,  the  new  in  our  experience^  in  so  far  as  it  is 
unassimilahle,  tends  to  escape  our  notice.  ...  If  a  pupil 
is  to  be  made  to  understand  novel  objects,  they  must  be 
made  so  far  as  possible,  to  seem  relatively  familiar  to  him 
at  each  step  of  the  process,  as  well  as  relatively  novel. 
Otherwise,  he  may  simply  fail  to  notice  them.  .  .  .  We 
see  in  this  world,  in  general,  what  we  come  prepared  to 
see.'' 

The  chie|  interest  in  novelty,  then,  lies  in  our  power 
to  assimilate  it,  to  compare,  contrast  and  identify  it  with 
experience.  If  this  were  not  so,  then  the  engineer  seeing 
a  new  type  of  bridge  would  find  comparatively  little  in- 
terest in  it ;  for  he  knows  other  types  in  which  are  to  be 
found  every  feature  of  this  new  type.  Yet  he  spends 
hours  over  it,  while  a  layman  passes  it  as  simply 
queer  sort  of  bridge. ' ' 

It  is  weU-nigh  impossible  to  present  anything  absolutely  ne^v 
to  the  educated  adult ;  he  at  once  begins  to  discover  points  of  con- 

1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  159. 

2  Psychology,  p.  422. 
^Outlines  of  Psychology ,  p.  235. 


58 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tact.  Primitive  man  furnishes  us  with  better  illustrations.  A 
party  of  scientists,  who  traveled  in  a  sailing  vessel  to  the  southern 
extremity  of  South  America,  came  upon  a  tribe  of  natives  who 
had  no  knowledge  of  white  men  or  their  ways.  The  aborigines 
were  observed  to  take  great  interest  in  the  small  boats,  but  paid  no 
attention  to  the  ship.  The  boats  could  easily  be  compared  with 
dugouts,  but  the  relation  of  the  ship  to  their  experience  was  too 
much  for  their  thinking  powers. 

A  bit  of  imagination  may  help  us  here.  Suppose  that  a  man 
were  to  come  among  us  who  has  no  knowledge  of  human  relations, 
and  yet  is  able  to  communicate  with  us.  What  a  large  number 
of  our  common  notions  would  be  meaningless  to  him !  How  could 
he,  for  instance,  give  his  attention  to  arbitration?  He  knows 
nothing  of  war,  or  even  of  the  rights  of  individuals ;  he  knows  noth- 
ing of  peace-making.  Where  shall  we  begin  our  explanation?  Per- 
haps he  has  observed  strife  among  animals.  Perhaps  we  can  give 
him  an  inkling  by  arranging  a  fight  for  the  possession  of  food, 
with  an  arbiter  coming  in  to  divide  the  food  among  the  combatants. 
Then  he  may  have  some  little  means  of  assimilating  our  explana- 
tions. We  may  be  able  to  show  him  real  war.  Little  by  little  he 
may  come  to  understand  the  history  of  human  warfare  and  become 
interested  in  arbitration. 

Let  one  who  needs  illustration  of  what  is  said  above  about  nov- 
elty, take  a  party  of  unlettered  folk  through  a  museum,  and  observe 
what  awakens  keenest  interest. 

Interest  in  the  familiar.  We  may  learn  again  from 
James:  ^ 

'^The  maximum  of  attention  may  then  be  said  to  be 
found  wherever  there  is  a  systematic  harmony  or  unifica- 
tion between  the  novel  and  the  old.  It  is  an  odd  circum- 
stance that  neither  the  old  nor  the  new,  by  itself,  is  inter- 
esting: the  absolutely  old  is  insipid;  the  absolutely  new 
makes  no  appeal  at  all.  The  old  in  the  new  is  what 
claims  attention, — the  old  with  slightly  new  form.  No 
one  wants  to  hear  a  lecture  on  a  subject  completely  dis- 
connected with  his  previous  experience,  but  we  all  like 
to  hear  lectures  on  subjects  of  which  we  know  a  little 
already. ' ' 

We  may  accept  this  as  sound  doctrine,  although  it  might  lead 
us  to  overlook  the  truth  that  there  is  interest  in  extremely  familiar 

1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  107. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


59 


things.  As  Royce  says :  *'WhGn  I  try  to  attend  to  a  thing  I 
either  try  to  recognize  or  to  understand  it,  or  I  take  contentment 
in  an  already  existent  recognition  or  understanding  of  it,  and  dwell 
upon  it  accordingly r  (Italics  mine.)  We  find  ourselves  going 
over  the  same  experiences,  stories,  data,  time  after  time.  Wit- 
ness the  carpenter  on  an  idle  day  turning  to  his  shop  and  fondling 
his  tools.  The  business  man's  mind  continues  to  run  on  his  af- 
fairs; the  athlete  still  thinks  of  his  game.  These  are  their  ''in- 
terests," the  things  they  ^'attend  to."  Particularly  do  we  return 
to  review  great  emotional  experiences,  as  the  soldier  his  battles. 
And  especially  after  struggling  with  the  new  and  difficult,  we  turn 
with  relief  to  familiar  scenes  and  familiar  thoughts.  With  too 
much  of  the  new  we  may  suffer  homesickness. 

Perhaps  we  should  say  that  there  is  nothing  absolutely 
familial*;  that  we  can  always  find  something  new  in  old 
things  or  ideas.  It  is  characteristic,  at  least  of  the 
trained  mind,  to  find  ever  new  phases  of  familiar  things. 
Some  old  things  bore  us  sadly,  of  course;  perhaps  be- 
cause they  are  inherently  unimportant,  perhaps  because 
we  really  know  too  little  about  them.  But  when  we 
are  dealing  with  inhefently  interesting  things,  and 
continue  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of  them,  interest 
once  enlisted,  does  not  lapse,  except  temporarily  from 
weariness. 

To  summarize,  interest  is,  generally  speaking,  strong- 
est in  old  things  in  new  settings,  looked  at  from  new 
angles,  given  new  forms  and  developed  with  new  facts 
and  ideas,  with  new  light  on  familiar  characters,  new  ex- 
planations of  familiar  phenomena,  or  new  applications  of 
old  truths. 

Satined  attention.  The  problem  of  sustaining  atten- 
tion, once  gained,  though  involved  in  the  preceding,  needs 
special  consideration.  Psychologists  tell  us  that  attention 
is  intermittent  and  cannot  be  sustained  upon  one  idea  for 
more  than  a  few  seconds.  While  this  may  not  be  ad- 
mitted by  all  as  regards  derived  primary  attention  (a 
degree  of  attention  we  cannot  always  hope  to  have), 


60 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


it  will  generally  be  agreed  that  James  is  right  in 
.  saying :  ^ 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  voluntary  attention  [sec- 
ondary, active]  sustained  for  more  than  a  few  seconds 
at  a  time.  What  is  called  sustained  voluntary  attention 
is  a  repetition  of  successive  efforts  which  bring  the  topic 
back  to  the  mind.  The  topic  once  brought  back,  if  a 
congenial  one,  develops;  and  if  its  development  is  inter- 
esting it  engages  the  attention  passively  for  a  time.  .  .  . 
This  passive  interest  may  be  long  or  short.  .  .  .  No  one 

Y'cctn  possibly  attend  continuously  to  an  object  that  does  not 

J  cha7ige,'^ 

In  another  work^  James  says  on  the  same  topic: 

*^The  subject  must  be  made  to  show  new  aspects  of  i 
itself;  to  prompt  new  questions;  in  a  word  to  change. 
.  .  .  You  can  test  this  by  the  simplest  possible  case  of 
sensorial  attention.  Try  to  attend  steadfastly  to  a  dot 
on  the  paper.  .  .  .  You  presently  find  that  .  .  .  either  your 
field  of  vision  has  become  blurred,  so  that  you  see  noth- 
ing distinct  at  all,  or  else  you  have  involuntarily  ceased 
to  look  at  the  dot  in  question.  .  .  .  But  if  you  ask  your- 
self questions  about  the  dot — how  big  it  is,  how  far,  what 
shade  of  color ;  in  other  words,  if  you  turn  it  over,  if  you 
think  of  it  in  various  ways,  along  with  various  kinds  of 
associates, — you  can  keep  your  mind  on  it  for  a  compara- 
tively long  time." 

Professor  J ames  says  ^  also : 

* '  *  The  natural  tendency  of  attention  when  left  to  itself 
is  to  wander  to  ever  new  things ;  and  so  soon  as  the  inter- 
est of  its  object  is  over,  so  soon  as  nothing  is  to  be  no- 
ticed there,  to  something  else.  //  we  wish  to  keep  it  upon 
07ie  and  the  same  object^,  we  must  seek  constantly  to  find 
out  something  new  about  the  latter,  especially  if  other 
powerful  impressions  are  attracting  us  away.'  These 
words  of  Helmholtz  are  of  fundamental  importance. 

Psychology :    Briefer  Covrae,  p.  224. 
2  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  107.       3  Briefer  Course,  p.  227. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


61 


And  if  true  of  sensorial  attention,  how  much  more  true 
are  they  of  the  intellectual  variety!  The  conditio  sine 
qua  non  of  sustained  attention  to  a  given  topic  of  thought 
is  that  we  should  roll  it  over  and  over  incessantly  and 
consider  different  aspects  and  relations  of  it  in  turn.  .  .  . 

**And  now  we  see  why  it  is  that  what  is  called  sus- 
tained attention  is  the  easier,  the  richer  in  acquisitions 
and  the  fresher  and  more  original  the  mind.  In  such 
minds,  subjects  bud  and  sprout  and  grow.  At  every 
moment,  they  please  by  a  new  consequence  and  rivet 
the  attention  afresh.  But  an  intellect  unfurnished  with 
materials,  stagnant,  unoriginal,  will  hardly  be  likely  to 
consider  any  subject  long.  A  glance  will  exhaust  its 
possibilities.  .  .  .  The  longer  one  does  attend  to  a  topic 
the  more  mastery  of  it  one  has.  And  the  faculty  of 
bringing  back  a  wandering  attention  over  and  over  again 
is  the  very  root  of  judgment,  character  and  will.'' 

The  same  truth  is  put  in  a  practical  form  by  Angell :  ^ 

*'To  keep  a  thought  alive  we  must  keep  doing  some- 
thing with  it.''  Continuing  he  speaks  of  a  school  boy 
staring  at  his  book,  but  unable  to  keep  his  mind  from 
more  genuine  interests.  *  *  For  such  a  youth  the  sole  pos- 
sibility of  progress  consists  in  taking  the  topic  and  forc- 
ing his  attention  to  turn  it  over,  ask  questions  of  it, 
examine  it  from  new  sides.  Presently,  even  though  such 
questions  and  inspection  be  very  foolishly  conceived, 
the  subject  will  start  into  life,  Avill  begin  to  connect  itself 
with  things  he  already  knows,  will  take  its  place  in  the 
general  furniture  of  his  mind;  and  if  he  takes  the  next 
and  all  but  indispensable  step,  and  actually  puts  his 
knowledge  to  some  use,  applies  it  to  some  practical  prob- 
lem, incorporates  it,  perhaps,  in  an  essay,  or  even  talks 
about  it  with  others,  he  will  find  he  has  acquired  a  real 
mental  tool  he  can  use,  and  not  simply  a  dead  load  he 
must  carry  on  his  already  aching  back.  What  we  call 
attending  to  a  topic  for  a  considerable  time  will,  there- 
fore, always  be  found  to  consist  in  attending  to  changing 
p/ia^es  of  the  subject." 

1  Psychology,  p.  77. 


62 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Suppose  now  you  wish  to  keep  your  mind  upon,  not 
a  dot,  but  some  topic  for  a  speech;  let  us  say  Lincoln. 
You  cannot  continue  to  think  just  Lincoln;  you  must 
think  about  Lincoln.  To  do  this  you  need  to  know  things 
about  him,  how  he  looked  and  acted,  what  he  did  and 
what  his  characteristics  were.  The  more  you  know  about 
him,  and  the  more  ready  your  mind  in  sifting  and  ar- 
ranging what  you  know,  the  longer  you  can  concentrate 
upon  the  topic.  ' '  Concentration  is  not  a  continuous  stare 
at  a  single  idea."  ^ 

Summary.  We  now  have  in  mind  these  truths :  That~^ 
the  development  of  thought  to  command  attention  de- 
pends upon  abundance  of  knowledge ;  that  this  knowledge 
should  be  related  to  and  combined  with  existing  knowl- 
edge ;  and  that  the  interest  of  novelty  lies  chiefly  in  our 
ability  to  assimilate  it  to  existing  knowledge.  We  learn 
further  that  to  sustain  attention  to  a  single  topic,  re- 
quires change  in  our  way  of  thinking  about  it,  a  shift- 
ing of  our  attention  from  point  to  point,  which  also  re- 
quires wealth  of  knowledge.  You  will  not  be  at  loss  to 
see  how  these  principles,  which  will  become  familiar  in 
the  following  chapters,  bear  upon  the  attention  of  the 
speaker  himself  in  his  preparation  and  upon  the  plat- 
form, and  upon  his  efforts  to  gain  and  keep  the  attention 
of  his  audience. 

Concreteness  and  attention.  The  average  person  finds 
difficulty  in  holding  his  mind  upon  an  abstraction.  Abil- 
ity to  do  so  comes  as  the  result  of  training.  A  concrete 
idea  is  more  vivid.  We  attend  most  easily  to  sensations, 
— what  reaches  us  through  eyes,  ears,  etc. ;  next,  to  mental 
representations  of  sensations,  and  with  most  difficulty  to 
abstractions  and  generalizations.  Unless  an  abstraction 
is  easily  translatable  into  concrete  terms  it  is  very  elusive 

1  Knowlton,  Business  Psychology^  p.  G5. 


PRINCIPLES  OP  ATTENTION  63 


indeed.  A  legal  textbook  would  be  impossible  reading 
even  to  a  student  of  the  law,  were  it  not  for  the  constant 
references  to  cases  in  which  John  Doe  and  Richard  Roe 
have  struggled  over  their  personal  and  property  rights. 
Most  of  us  find  a  work  on  philosophy  hard  reading,  even 
though  we  understand  all  the  terms  used.  The  style  is 
too  abstract  for  us.  We  are  relieved  by  an  occasional 
illustration.  When  a  speaker  indulges  in  much  abstract 
discussion  we  either  cease  to  listen,  or  do  our  best,  hoping 
we  understand  and  waiting  for  the  welcome  ^^Now  to 
illustrate. ' '    Says  DeGarmo :  ^ 

* '  Concreteness  contributes  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
single  phase  of  instruction  both  to  clearness  and  to  vivid- 
ness. It  lays  the  foundation,  therefore,  for  interest.  It 
is  an  old  saying  that  Hhe  road  to  hell  is  paved  with  ab- 
stractions. '  However  this  may  be  in  theology,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  in  education  a  path  so  paved  rarely  leads  to 
the  goal  of  vivid  ideas.  .  .  .  Lotze  tells  us  that  all  the 
strivings  of  the  mental  life  not  only  begin  with  the  con- 
crete perceptions  of  the  senses,  but  that  they  return  to 
them  to  obtain  material  and  starting  points  for  new 
development  of  the  mind's  activity.  If  this  be  true,  the 
road  paved  with  abstractions  is  the  road  away  from  in- 
terest, away  from  vivid  and  life-giving  thought." 

The  term  concreteness  is  here  given  its  usual  meaning,  the  op- 
posite of  abstraction.  "A  concrete  name  is  the  name  of  a  thing,  the 
abstract  name  is  the  name  of  a  quality,  attribute,  or  circumstance 
of  a  thing.  Thus  red  house  is  the  name  of  a  physically  existing 
thing,  and  is  concrete ;  redness  is  the  name  of  one  quality  of  the 
house,  and  is  abstract.'*  2  fall  man,  a  tall  tree,  a  tall  monu- 
ment, are  all  concrete  terms,  but  tallnesSy  denoting  a  quality  drawn 
out  or  abstracted  from  them,  is  abstract.  ^ 

Concreteness  and  clearness.  In  all  the  preceding  dis- 
cussion we  might  have  emphasized  the  rather  evident 
fact  that  clearness  is  developed  along  with  interest,  by 
gaining  wealth  of  knowledge,  by  linking  the  new  to  the 

1  Interest  and  Education,  p.  141.  2  Jevons,  Logic,  p.  20. 


64 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


old,  the  unknown  to  the  known,  comparing,  turning  ideas 
over  and  viewing  them  from  many  angles.  The  longer  we 
dwell  upon  ideas  with  active  mind  the  clearer  they  be- 
>3ome.    In  the  words  of  Royce :  ^ 

*  'If  our  attention  succeeds  in  any  case,  .  .  .  the  object 
of  this  interest  grows  clearer  in  our  minds ;  that  is,  grows 
more  definite  and  gets  a  better  ^relief  upon  its  back- 
ground. Indeed,  attention  is  the  conditio  sine  qua  non 
of  all  important  intellectual  processes." 

Let  us  now  give  some  special  attention  to  the  relation 
of  concreteness  to  clearness.  First,  observe,  the  value  of 
abstract  thinking  is  not  questioned.  Abstraction  and 
generalization  are  necessary  to  rapid  and  progressive 
thought.^  The  clear  thinker  will  be  able  to  put  his  ideas 
into  both  abstract  and  concrete  form,  and  one"  form  will 
be  a  corrective  of  the  other.  But  we  must  observe  that 
general  and  abstract  terms  are  treacherous  and  often 
cover  confusion  and  ignorance.  The  ignorant  but  preten- 
tious man  may  talk  loudly  of  justice,  liberty,  social  wel- 
fare, wonders  of  science,  philosophy,  without  definite 
meaning  behind  his  words.  He  will  explain  wireless 
telegraphy  with  a  comprehensiove  gesture  and  one  word^ 
'^Electricity'';  or  questions  about  mental  phenomena 
with,  ''That's  psychology,"  or,  "That  is  nothing  but 
suggestion. ' ' 

Gardiner  3  says  we  must  expect  abstractions  from  two  classes  of 
men :  "First,  the  great  thinkers  whoise  intellectual  powers  work, 
as  it  were,  by  leaps  and  flights ;  in  the  other  extreme,  from  people 
who  are  too  lazy  to  think  their  subject  out  in  specific  detail.  .  .  . 
It  is  only  the  man  who  can  think  clearly  who  is  not  afraid  to 
think  hard,  and  to  test  his  thought  by  the  actual  facts  of  experi- 
ence." 

1  Outlines  of  Psychology,  p.  261. 

2  For  a  well  balanced  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Adan\s' 
BiDpoHition  and  Illustration  in  T caching ,  chapter  on  Elaboration. 

3  Forms  of  Prose  Discourse^  p.  52. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


65 


The  German  philosopher  Schopenhauer,i  speaking  of  writers  who 
have  little  to  say,  remarks :  "Another  characteristic  of  such  writ- 
ers is  that  they  always  avoid  a  positive  assertion  when  they  can 
possibly  do  so,  in  order  to  leave  a  loophole  for  escape  in  case  of 
need.  Hence,  they  never  fail  to  choose  the  more  abstract  way  of 
expressing  themselves ;  whereas  intelligent  people  use  the  more  con- 
crete.'^ 

Professor  Hill  sums  up  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  gen- 
eral words :  2  The  general  term  covers  more  ground  but  is  less 
definite  than  the  specific.  It  serves  to  classify  and,  as  it  were, 
store  up  knowledge.  General  words  are  of  service  in  writings  in- 
tended to  popularize  science,  enabling  the  writer  to  avoid  technical 
tei-ms.  General  expressions  are  sometimes  more  striking  than  spe- 
cific ones ;  as  when  we  say  of  something,  "It  is  perfection,'*  or 
when  Byron  spoke  of  a  "sublime  mediocrity."  General  words  are 
a  resource  of  those  who  seek  to  disarm  opposition,  or  to  veil  un- 
pleasant facts ;  but  also  of  those  who  seek  "to  hide  poverty  of 
thought  in  richness  of  language,  to  give  obscurity  an  air  of  clever- 
ness and  shallowness  the  dignity  of  an  oracle,  to  cover  the  inten- 
tion to  say  nothing  with  the  appearance  of  having  said  much,  or 
to  *front  South  by  North,'  as  Lowell's  'Birdofredum  Sawin'  did. 
They  abound  in  the  resolutions  of  political  parties,  ^appeals'  of 
popular  orators,  'tributes  to  departed  worth,'  second-rate  sermons, 
and  school  compositions." 

Few  of  us  would  find  it  possible  to  prove  all  our  gen- 
eralizations ;  but  we  certainly  should  avoid  using  abstrac- 
tions and  generalizations  which  we  have  not  tested  by 
comparison  with  the  world  of  fact  and  experience. 
Unfortunately  we  accept  far  too  much  from  teachers 
and  books.  One  is  often  surprised  at  the  wild  way  in 
which,  for  example,  economic  terms  are  bandied  by 
those  to  whom  they  have  but  the  haziest  meaning. 
Just  as  the  truth  that  two  and  two  makes  four  is  learned 
by  the  child  by  putting  together  two  apples  and  two 
apples,  so  other  conceptions  should.  be  put  to  the  test  of 
reality. 

1  Essay  On  Style,  found  conveniently  in  Cooper's  Theories  of 
Style. 

2  Foundations  of  Rhetoric,  p.  187.  A  book  on  common  gram- 
raatical  and  rhetorical  errors,  very  sane  and  very  useful  in  a  stu* 
d<^nt's  library. 


66 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


We  can  learn  the  meaning  of  words  from  dictionaries,  but  we 
are  liable  to  absurd  mistakes  when  we  use  dictionaries  wliich  "di- 
vest the  words  of  all  concrete  accompaniments  that  really  would 
make  them  intelligible  to  the  learner."  (By  the  way,  do  you  at 
once  get  a  clear-cut  meaning  from  that  quotation?)  If  you  are 
not  familiar  with  the  word  apperception^  turn  to  a  small  dictionary 
and  learn  that  it  means  "mental  perception."  Perhaps  you  think 
you  understand.  Look  in  your  Webster  and  find  that  apperception 
is  "perception  involving  self-consciousness."  Now  if  you  are  told 
that  apperception  is  the  process  I  have  been  urging  and  illustrat- 
ing under  the  head  of  Derived  Interest,  you  may  understand  the 
further  definition,  "Cognition  through  the  relating  of  new  ideas  to 
familiar  ideas."  A  student  of  the  law  of  contracts  may  think  he 
understands  consideration  when  he  reads  the  definition;  but  after 
a  week  spent  in  the  study  of  cases  he  knows  that  he  did  not  know. 
We  can  rarely  be  sure  of  a  word  until  we  refer  it  to  concrete 
situations. 

Even  familiar  words  in  new  combinations  may  be  elusive.  Un- 
less we  have  given  more  than  ordinary  attention  to  such  terms  as 
social  consciousness^  survival  of  the  fittest,  natural  selection,  so- 
cialization of  wealth,  we  are  not  likely  to  know  their  precise  mean- 
ing, and  thus  to  have  earned  the  right  to  use  them. 

Experience  with  students  in  interpreting  selections  proves  that 
abstract  statements  are  far  more  often  misunderstood,  even  when 
simple,  than  concrete  ones.  Take  the  sentence  (found  in  the  Cur- 
tis selection,  at  the  end  of  Chapter  XIV)  :  "When  an  American 
citizen  is  content  with  voting  merely,  he  consents  to  accept  a  doubt- 
ful alternative."  This  has  often  been  misunderstood,  and  more 
often  remained  meaningless,  until  it  has  been  translated  into  con- 
crete terms,  as  "Jeremy  Diddler  and  Dick  Turpin'* ;  or,  better,  into 
the  names  of  two  rascally  students  known  to  the  student.  For  me 
it  becomes  significant  when  I  think  of  an  aldermanic  election 
where  one  candidate  was  described  as  a  knave  and  the  other  as  a 
fool.  Indeed,  how  can  one  think  about  the  matter — really  think 
about  it — otherwise?  Is  it  not  the  natural  action  of  the  mind 
when  one  tries  to  attend  to  this  expression,  to  refer  to  actual 
political  conditions?  From  the  same  paragraph  is  taken  this  sen- 
tence, which  has  made  more  trouble  than  the  other :  "In  a  rural 
community  such  as  this  country  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  who- 
ever was  nominated  for  oflSce  was  known  to  his  neighbors,  and  the 
consciousness  of  that  knowledge  was  a  conservative  influence  in 
determining  nominations."  Surely  not  a  difficult  thought,  but  it 
has  proved  very  indistinct  to  many  until  there  has  been  pictured 
a  country  village  with  a  caucus  in  progress :  Bill  Jones  is  an  as- 
pirant for  the  nomination  for  supervisor,  but  the  leaders  are  shak- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION  67 


ing  their  heads  because  all  the  folks  know  of  Bill's  shady  connec- 
tions with  a  certain  bridge  company.  Any  clear-headed  person 
gets  readily  enough  the  main  outlines  of  the  selection  from  which 
these  quotations  are  taken ;  but  it  is  much  clearer,  and  of  course 
much  more  vivid  to  those  who  by  experience,  observation  and  study, 
have  gained  a  knowledge  of  political  conditions. 

Clearness,  evidently  enough,  is  a  matter  larger  than  concrete- 
ness.  By  every  means,  educated  men  should  strive  to  use  w^ords 
accurately  as  an  aid  to  thinking  and  speaking  clearly.  It  is  re- 
grettable that  so  many  students  are  content  to  use  words  with  but 
a  guess  at  their  meaning.  Emphasis  on  this  subject  is  justified  in 
a  textbook  on  public  speaking,  for  accurate  use  of  words  and  clear 
thinking  are  not  likely  to  go  with  "hot  air"  and  bombast. 

Specific  vs.  general  words.  I  have  used  abstract  and 
general  as  synonyms,  and  there  is  ample  authority  for  so 
doing ;  ^  but  generalizations  can  be  expressed  in  concrete 
terms,  as,  ^^All  men  are  liars.''  Plainly  enough  the  spe- 
cific is  yet  more  vivid  than  the  concrete.  A  horse  may 
bring  to  mind  but  a  hazy,  characterless  image;  but  old 
Dobbin  brings  a  picture  with  proper  color,  shape  and 
size.  Herbert  Spencer,  in  developing  his  principle  of  ' 
economy  of  attention,  tells  us  that  concrete  and  specific 
expressions  are  more  vivid  and  require  less  effort  to  trans- 
late into  thoughts,  than  abstract  and  general  terms. 
*'We  should  avoid,"  he  says,^  ^^such  a  sentence  as: 

^'In  proportion  as  the  manners,  customs,  and  amuse- 
ments of  a  nation  are  cruel  and  barbarous,  the  regulations 
of  their  penal  code  will  be  severe. 

And  we  should  write : 

^*In  proportion  as  men  delight  in  battles,  bull-fights, 
and  combats  of  gladiators,  will  they  punish  by  hanging, 
burning,  and  the  rack.  " 

But  the  change  shows  less  the  advantage  of  the  concrete 
over  the  abstract  than  that  of  the  specific  over  the  general. 

1  Spencer,  Philosophy  of  Style,  found  in  Cooper's  Theories  of 
Style,  p.  277;  Hill,  Foundations  of  Rhetoric,  p.  188;  Titcheuer, 
Textbook,  p.  529.  2  Cooper,  Theories  of  Style,  p.  278. 


68  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

As  an  example  of  the  greater  power  of  the  specific  to  catch  at  - 
tention, take  this :  A  newsboy  passes  through  a  car  shouting, 
"Papers  here,  morning  papers  I"  All  faces  wear  an  indifferent 
look.  "New  York  papers,  World,  Herald,  Sun,  American!'^  and 
several  call  him  back.  The  specific  names  had  stirred  interest  in 
particular  papers,  or  topics  associated  with  particular  journals,  as 
sport,  politics,  foreign  news.  "All  aljout  the  baseball  games,"  may 
succeed  better  yet ;  and  still  better,  "Athletics  beat  the  Giants ; 
Baker  gets  two  home-runs  !" 

It  may  be  said  concerning  Spencer's  sentences,  that 
while  the  second  is  undoubtedly  more  vivid  and  more 
likely  to  catch  attention,  we  shall  have  the  clearest  under- 
standing of  the  thought  when  we  take  the  two  together ; 
for  when  the  general  truth  is  what  is  aimed  at,  there  is 
always  a  possibility  that  the  hearer  may  not  deduce  it 
from  a  specific  statement.  Note  how,  in  the  following 
sentence,  the  concrete  and  abstract  statements  help  each 
other : 

"In  the  nature  of  things  we  may  not  be  presumed  to  have  attained 
through  evolutionary  processes  that  perfection  in  which  the  lower 
nature  shall  be  in  complete  subjection  to  the  higher.  The  ghost  of 
our  four-footed  ancestry  will  not  down." 

Summary.  For  the  sake  of  both  clearness  and  vivid- 
ness, we  should  think  and  express  our  thoughts,  not 
merely  in  abstract  and  general  terms,  but  also  in  con- 
crete and  specific  terms.  As  a  rule,  the  concrete  attracts 
attention  more  than  the  abstract,  and  the  specific  still 
more  than  the  merely  concrete. 

Dewey's  definitions  of  the  term  concrete.  Some  writers 
give  to  the  terms  abstract  and  concrete  modified  mean- 
ings which  are  not  without  suggestion  for  us.  Professor 
Dewey  says ;  ^ 

''Concrete  denotes  a  meaning  marked  off  from  other 
meanings  so  that  it  is  readily  apprehended  by  itself. 
When  we  hear  the  words,  table^  chair,  stove,  coat,  we  do 

1  How  We  Think,  p.  13G, 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


69 


not  have  to  reflect  in  order  to  grasp  what  is  meant.  The 
terms  convey  meaning  so  directly  that  no  effort  at  transla- 
tion is  needed.  The  meanings  of  some  terms  and  things, 
however,  are  grasped  only  by  first  calling  to  mind  more 
familiar  things  and  then  tracing  the  connections  between 
them  and  what  we  do  not- understand.  Roughly  speak- 
ing, the  former  kind  of  meanings  is  concrete ;  the  latter 
abstract."    So  ''what  is  familiar  is  mentally  concrete." 

If  you  are  beginning  physics  molecule  is  abstract,  for 
you  have  to  translate  it;  when  at  home  in  the  subject 
the  term  becomes  concrete.  To  most  of  us,  the  terms  of 
the  metric  system  are  abstract.  So  concreteness  is  a  rela- 
tive matter,  depending  on  the  intellectual  progress  of  the 
individual. 

In  this  use  of  the  word.  Be  concrete  means:  Think 
out  your  subject  in  terms  Vv^ith  which  you  are  so  familiar, 
of  the  meanings  of  which  you  are  so  certain^  that  no 
translation  is  necessary.  One  has  but  to  reflect  on  his 
difficulties  in  getting  with  certainty  and  clearness  the 
thought  in  a  passage  from  a  foreign  tongue  in  which  he 
is  not  thoroughly  at  home,  to  appreciate  the  force  of  this 
advice. 

Dewey  goes  further  and  finds  that  the  limits  of  the 
concrete,  that  is,  the  familiar, — 

''are  fixed  mainly  by  the  demands  of  the  practical  life 
Things  such  as  sticks  and  stones,  meat  and  potatoes, 
houses  and  trees,  are  such  constant  features  of  the  envi- 
ronment of  w^hich  we  have  to  take  account  in  order  to 
live,  that  their  important  meanings  are  soon  learnt,  and 
indissolubly  associated  with  objects.  .  .  .  The  necessities 
of  social  intercourse  convey  to  adults  a  like  concreteness 
upon  such  terms  as  taxes,  elections,  wages,  the  law,  and 
soon.  .  .  .  By  contrast,  the  abstract  is  the  ^7t^^ 
that  not  intimately  associated  with  pr act icai^^^ 
The  abstract  thinker  .  .  .  deliberately  abstracts  from 
application  in  life;  that  is,  he  leaves  practical  uses  out 


70  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  account.  .  .  .  When  thinking  is  used  as  a  means  to 
some  end,  good,  or  value  beyond  itself,  it  is  concrete; 
when  it  is  employed  simply  as  a  means  to  more  thinkingy 
it  is  abstract/'  Education  should  develop  the  capabili- 
ties, possessed  by  every  human  being,  to  think  in  both 
ways.  '^Nor  is  theoretical  thinking  a  higher  type  of 
thinking  than  practical.  A  person  who  has  at  command 
both  types  of  thinking  is  of  a  higher  order  than  he  who 
possesses  only  one." 

Here  again  is  food  for  thought.  Most  of  us  under- 
stand truth  more  clearly  and  attend  to  it  more  easily 
when  we  see  its  practical  applications.  Think  concretely 
in  this  sense,  means :  Think  out  your  subjects  with  refer- 
ence to  their  practical  bearings ;  think,  not  only  in  terms 
of  men  and  things  and  institutions,  but  also  in  terms  of 
their  aims,  uses  and  purposes. 

Imagination.  If  we  fill  our  minds  with  knowledge  of 
our  subject,  if  we  relate  this  to  experience,  if  we  think 
in  concrete  terms  and  emphasize  practical  applications, 
we  shall  fill  our  minds  with  images.  This  tendency  of 
thought  to  take  the  form  of  images  is  to  be  encouraged  by 
the  speaker. 

Kinds  of  imagery.  The  psychologist's  use  of  the  word 
images  is  technical  and  covers  not  only  what  one  sees 
in  the  ^^mind^s  eye,"  but  also  what  one  hears  in  the 
mind's  ear,  and  movements,  tastes,  smells,  touches  which 
one  experiences  in  imagination.  When  there  comes  into 
mind  a  picture,  one  is  said  to  have  a  visual  image;  when 
one  hears  sounds  not  actual,  as  when  a  musician  hears  the 
music  of  the  score  he  is  reading,  one  has  an  auditory 
image, 

' '  I  call  up  a  former  experience  in  which  I  was  playing 
football,"  says  Professor  Scott,^  feel  in  imagi- 

1  Psychology  of  Pullic  Speaking. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENmON 


71 


nation  the  straining  of  the  muscles  as  I  attempted  to 
push  against  the  line.  I  imagine  the  terrible  struggle, 
the  twisting,  straining  and  writhing  of  every  muscle, 
tendon  and  joint.  As  I  imagine  it,  I  find  the  state  is 
reestablished  and  I  am  unconsciously  leaning  toward  the 
goal  as  if  the  experience  were  a  present  one.  My  motor 
imagery  of  the  football  game  is  almost  as  distinct  as  the 
motor  perception  of  moving  the  table.  ...  In  my  imagi- 
nation I  feel  a  fly  slowly  crawling  up  my  nose — I  have  a 
tactual  image  of  it — and  the  image  is  so  strong  that  I 
have  to  stop  to  rub  my  nose.  I  ate  a  peach  this  morn- 
ing. ...  As  I  think  of  how  it  tasted,  my  mouth  waters 
— I  have  a  vivid  gustatory  image  of  the  peach.  ...  As 
I  think  of  how  the  gas  factory  smelt  yesterday  when  I 
passed  it,  I  have  an  olfactory  image  of  the  gas.  ...  As 
I  think  of  how  it  felt  when  I  stepped  on  a  rusty  nail,  I 
have  a  mental  image  of  the  pain. ' ' 

Individuals  differ  with  regard  to  the  forms  of  imagery  which 
predominate  in  their  consciousness,  and  they  differ  in  the  vividness 
of  their  imagery ;  but  images  are  common  to  alh  The  majority 
have  visual  images  as  their  most  vivid  form  and  are  said  to  be 
"eye-minded."  Others  are  "ear-minded" ;  while  others  are  more 
strongly  motor.  The  other  forms  of  images  are  usually  less  dis- 
tinct. Most  persons  are  of  mixed  type  and  have,  in  varying  de- 
grees of  distinctness,  several  of  the  forms. 

Mental  images  vary  from  those  faint  and  incomplete  to  those  so 
vivid  that  we  mistake  them  for  perceptions  coming  through  the 
senses.  We  think  we  see  Brown  on  the  street,  but  learn  he  is  out 
of  town ;  we  think  we  hear  a  call  but  no  one  is  near ;  we  think 
the  bullet  pierced  our  flesh,  but  the  surgeon  finds  only  a  hole  in 
our  coat.  Balzac,  we  are  told,  "could  produce,  in  his  own  body, 
the  sharpest  pain  of  being  cut  with  a  knife  by  imagining  himself 
cut." 

Images  and  imagination.  The  term  imagination  is 
most  conveniently  used  as  a  name  for  the  sum  total  of 
the  mental  processes  that  express  themselves  in  our 
mental  imagery.  When  used  psychologically  the  word 
imagination  conveys  no  implication  that  the  mental 
imagery  in  question  stands  for  unreal  or  fantastic  ob- 


72 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


jects."^  We  have  here  at  once  an  authoritative  defini- 
tion and  the  correction  of  a  mistaken  notion. 

The  imaginative  and  the  imaginary.  We  must  drive 
out  of  our  heads  once  for  all  the  mistaken  belief  that 
in  speaking  of  imagination  we  refer  to  the  fanciful.  It  is 
true  that  without  control  imagination  may  lead  us  far 
astray;  but  rightly  controlled,  ^*The  imaginative  is  not 
necessarily  the  imaginary.  .  .  .  The  proper  function  of 
imagination  is  vision  of  realities  which  cannot  be  exhib- 
ited under  existing  conditions. "  ^  A  general  planning 
a  battle,  aud  directing  it  over  a  field  a  hundred  miles  in 
extent ;  a  war  correspondent  writing  his  despatch,  weav- 
ing together  what  he  has  seen  and  what  he  has  been  told, 
with  no  part  of  the  reality  before  him  as  he  writes,  the 
historian  writing  the  authoritative  description  years  after, 
— do  not  all  these  need  imagination  to  make  situations 
real  and  true?  Imagination  is  also  the  foundation  of 
sympathy,  faith,  hope,  ambition. 

/  ^^^-The  imagination  is  not  a  process  of  thought  which 
[must  deal  chiefly  with  unrealities  and  impossibilities, 
jand  which  has  for  its  chief  end  our  amusement.  ...  It 
/is  rather  a  commonplace  necessary  process,  which  illu- 
mines the  way  for  our  everyday  thinking  and  acting — 
.'a  process  without  which  we  think  and  act  by  haphazard 
'chance  or  blind  imitation.  It  is  the  process  by  which  the 
images  from  our  past  experiences  are  marshaled  and 
made  to  serve  our  present.  Imagination  looks  into  the 
future  and  constructs  our  patterns  and  lays  our  plans. 
It  sets  up  our  ideals  and  pictures  us  in  the  act  of  achiev- 
ing them.  It  enables  us  to  live  our  joys  and  sorrows,  our 
victories  and  defeats,  before  we  reach  them.  It  looks 
into  the  past  and  allows  us  to  live  with  the  kings  and  seers 
of  old,  or  it  goes  back  to  the  beginning  and  sees  things 
in  the  process  of  making.    It  comes  into  our  present  and 

1  Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  p.  161. 

2  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  p.  224. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION  73 


plays  a  part  in  every  act  from  the  simplest  to  the  most 
complex.  .  .  . 

" ,  .  ,  Suppose  I  describe  to  you  the  siege  which  gave 
Port  Arthur  to  Japan.  Unless  you  can  take  the  images 
which  my  words  suggest  and  build  them  into  struggling, 
shouting,  bleeding  soldiers ;  into  forts  and  entanglements 
and  breastworks ;  into  roaring  cannon  and  whistling  bul- 
let and  screaming  shell — :unless  you  can  take  all  these 
separate  images  and  out  of  them  get  one  great  unified 
complex,  then  my  description  will  be  to  you  only  so  many 
v/ords  largely  without  content,  and  you  will  lack  the 
power  to  comprehend  the  historical  event  in  any  com- 
plete way.  Unless  you  can  read  the  poem  and  out  of  the 
images  suggested  by  the  words  reconstruct  the  picture 
which  was  in  the  mind  of  the  author  as  he  wrote  'The 
Village  Blacksmith'  or  'Snowbound,'  the  significance  will 
have  dropped  out,  and  the  throbbing  scenes  of  life  and 
action  become  only  so  many  dead  words,  like  the  shell 
of  the  chrysalis  after  the  butterfly  has  left  its  shroud. 
.  .  .  Without  the  power  to  reconstruct  [the  pictures]  as 
you  read,  you  may  commit  the  words,  and  be  able  to  re- 
cite them,  and  to  pass  an  examination  upon  them,  but 
the  living  reality  .  .  .  will  forever  escape  you. "  ^ 

Imagination  and  attention.  The  first  reason  why  a 
speaker  should  encourage  the  tendency  of  his  thought 
to  take  the  form  of  images,  is  that  imagery  makes  a  strong  ^ 
demand  upon  attention.  Imagery  makes  thought  more 
vivid,  because  more  life-like  and  objective ;  that  is,  more 
like  actual  experience  coming  to  us  through  our  senses. 
We  cannot  help  attending  to  strong  sensations;  and  we 
are  strongly  drawn  by  images  which  reproduce  sensations 
and  perceptions.  If  you  wished  to  interest  a  boy  in 
France,  you  would  take  him  there  if  possible.  If  you 
could  not  do  that,  you  would  try  to  make  him  imagine 
what  France  is  like,  its  scenery,  people,  art  and  life. 

Imagination  and  clearness.    While  chief  emphasis  is 

1  Betts,  Mind  and  its  Education,  p.  128. 


74 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


laid  upon  imagination  as  a  source  of  vividness,  we  see 
from  the  preceding  examples  that  imagery  makes  for 
clearness  of  thought  also.  ''History,  literature,  and 
geography,  nay,  even  geometry  and  arithmetic,  are  full  of 
matters  that  must  be  imaginatively  realized  if  they  are 
realized  at  all. ' '  ^  The  mathematician  treating  of  solid 
forms,  the  physicist  considering  atoms  and  gravitation 
and  projecting  his  theories  and  laws  into  the  universe, 
and  the  biologist  evolving  theories  of  life,  must  have 
imagination.  Faraday  and  Darwin  are  ranked  among 
the  great  imaginative  minds  of  the  last  century.  Com- 
ing into  the  world  of  affairs,  the  inventor  constructing  a 
machine,  the  architect  working  over  elevations  and  the 
arrangement  of  rooms,  chimneys  and  stairways,  the  states- 
man seeking  to  grasp  the  situation  in  a  distant  province, 
or  to  forecast  the  effect  of  a  new  tariff  law,  the  speaker 
presenting  these  same  matters  to  an  audience,  or  any  one 
who  has  to  realize  an  object  or  situation,  past,  present,  or 
future,  not  actually  present  to  his  senses,  is  dependent 
upon  the  imagination,  ''the  instrument  of  reality." 
' '  Unless  the  flagging  interest  of  the  common  man, ' '  says 
Ross,^  "be  stimulated  to  divine  the  multifarious  life  of  his 
country,  his  will  be  no  fit  hands  to  hold  the  reins. ' ' 

Imagination,  productive  and  reproductive.  We  find  the 
terms  productive  and  reproductive  used  as  distinguish- 
ing, not  so  much  two  kinds,  as  two  functions  of  imagina- 
tion. (Productive  imagination  is  sometimes  called  cre- 
ative, a  word  somewhat  too  pretentious,  as  we  shall  see.) 
As  the  preceding  examples  indicate,  imagination  repro- 
duces past  experiences,  though  never  with  complete  fidel- 
ity. This  is  memory.  Again,  we  imagine  things  or 
events  we  have  not  experienced ;  that  is,  we  exercise  pro- 
ductive imagination. 

1  Dewey,  How  Wc  Thinh,  p.  224.    2  SocM  Control,  p.  259. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ATTENTION 


75 


Imagination  must  have  material  with  which  to  work. 

Productive  imagination  cannot  really  create  anything ;  it 
can  only  present  new  combinations  of  already  familiar 
elements.  We  have  done  no  better  in  picturing  an  angel 
than  to  attach  wings  to  a  beautiful  human  being  and  our 
gods  are  always  glorified  men.  Almost  any  boy  has  his 
idea  of  what  a  battle  is  like ;  but  it  is  made  up  from  his 
experiences  in  fist  and  snowball  fights  and  his  little  knowl- 
edge of  guns  and  cannons,  helped  out  by  pictures  and 
vivid  descriptions.  Since  the  most  brilliant  imagination 
is  thus  limited  by  previous  experience,  it  follows  that  to 
imagine  vividly  and  accurately  a  scene,  a  situation,  or  an 
experience,  we  have  to  store  our  minds  with  an  abundance 
of  data  arising  from  accurate  observation  and  wide  read- 
ing. The  boy's  idea  of  a  battle  may  be  in  many 
ways  grotesque.  It  is  sure  to  be  unless  he  has  added 
study  to  his  small  experience.  So  a  statesman  may  have 
a  distorted  idea  of  affairs  in  the  Far  East. 

What  imagination  can  do  with  proper  material. 
Equally  important  is  the  truth  that,  given  sufficient  facts, 
imagination  can  use  them  to  build  conceptions  both  vivid 
and  true.  Without  imagination  the  facts  are  dead  stuff ; 
but  with  imagination  a  gifted  boy  can,  by  adding  study  to 
his  little  experience,  gain  such  a  true  picture  of  a  battle 
that  he  can  write  a  realistic  battle  story.  He  may  be 
able  to  feel  the  actual  sensations  of  going  under  fire.^ 
So  too  the  statesman,  by  a  study  of  the  materials  at  hand, 
warmed  into  life  by  constructive  imagination,  may  gain  a 
view  of  the  situation  in  the  Far  East  in  which  products, 
peoples  and  armaments  fall  into  proper  relations,  so 
that  he  can  deal  justly  with  situations  as  they  arise.  He 
is  like  a  blindfolded  chess-player,  only  his  game  is  vastly 
more  complicated.    It  would  be  much  easier,  of  course,  if 

1  Read  Stephen  Crane's  Red  Badge  of  Courage, 


76 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


one  had  actual  observation  and  experience  to  reproduce 
directly ;  but  it  is  rather  rare  that  one  has  complete  first- 
hand knowledge  of  a  situation  with  which  one  has  to  deal, 
or  of  which  one  has  to  speak.  '*The  image  thus  affords 
us,"  says  Angell,^  ''the  method  by  which  we  shake  off  the 
shackles  of  the  world  of  objects  immediately  present  to 
sense,  and  secure  the  freedom  to  overstep  the  limits  of 
space  and  time  as  our  fancy,  or  our  necessity,  may 
dictate. ' ' 

Conclusion.  Everywhere  we  have  found  need  for  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  subjects  we  wish  to  treat, 
We  find  that  this  knowledge  must  be  combined  with  our 
existing  store  and  all  worked  over  in  many  ways.  Among 
possible  ways,  we  emphasize  thinking  our  material  out  in 
concrete  terms,  and  building  it,  by  power  of  imagination, 
into  the  forms  of  actual  things, — men,  situations  and 
events.  This  is  not  the  place,  of  course,  for  the  systematic 
treatment  of  these  topics ;  and  I  have  simply  emphasized 
those  matters  v/hich  experience  indicates  as  needing  spe« 
cial  attention  in  our  work.  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall 
apply  the  principles  of  this  to  the  attention  of  the  speaker 
himself.  In  later  chapters  the  principles  will  prove  of 
value  with  reference  to  the  attention  of  the  audience. 

1  Psychology,  p.  178.  \ 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  speaker's  ATTENTION  TO  HIS  TOPIC 

We  are  now  prepared  to  consider  more  fully  the  means 
of  fulfilling  the  requirement  that  a  speaker  should  have  a; 
full  realization  of  the  content  of  his  words  as  he  utters^ 
them.  Since  he  must  also  attend  to  his  audience,  he 
cannot  absolutely  lose  himself  in  his  subject;  but  we 
know  that  the  danger  is  that  the  young  speaker  will  at- 
tend to  neither  ideas  nor  audiences,  and  will  speak  only 
empty  words.  He  should  seek,  therefore,  so  to  develop  his 
theme  that  it  will  powerfully  command  his  attention. 
His  attention,  as  he  stands  on  the  platform,  will  depend 
not  merely  upon  his  will,  but  more  upon  his  preparation, 
the  abundance  of  his  material  and  his  handling  of  it. 
He  can  do  much  by  sheer  determination  to  attend,  by 
forming  the  habit  of  never  speaking  with  wandering 
attention ;  but  more  than  will  power  is  needed. 

Topics  of  interest.  When  feasible,  the  speaker  should 
choose  topics  of  interest  to  himself,  as  well  as  to  his 
audience,  so  that  he  may  have  an  initial  interest  to  de- 
velop. Here  we  touch  upon  one  of  the  most  common 
causes  of  poor  work  in  public  speaking  classes :  the  speak- 
ers often  take  subjects,  not  because  they  are  interested, 
but  because  they  must  have  something  to  talk  about.'' 
But  though  one  has  to  speak  upon  a  subject  that  does 
not  interest  him  at  the  outset  (and  there  may  be  good 
reason  In  the  occasion,  the  expectation  of  the  audience,  or 
in  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  speaker  himself),  even 
then  the  case  is  not  hopeless. 

77 


78 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Applications  of  the  preceding  chapter.  To  such  a  case 
as  that  just  mentioned  and  to  the  commoner  case  of  an  in- 
terest which  needs  deepening,  we  may  apply  the  lessons  of 
the  preceding  chapter.  The  application  is  so  aptly  made 
by  a  student,  in  an  examination  paper  written  at  the  end 
of  a  brief  elementary  course,  that  I  take  pleasure  in 
quoting  him :  ^ 

^^To  work  up  interest  in  any  subject  we  must  have 
more  than  a  superficial  knowledge  of  it.  It  is  the  person 
who  knows  nothing  about  things  who  is  not  interested 
in  them.  Suppose  a  person  has  never  studied  bridges; 
then  all  bridges  are  alike  to  him,  either  very  long,  or  very 
wide,  or  very  high,  and  beyond  that  he  is  not  interested. 
In  other  words,  his  interest  in  a  new  bridge  is  short- 
lived and  may  be  exhausted  by  looking  at  it  a  moment 
or  so.  But  to  one  who  has  made  a  study  of  their  every 
member,  every  unit  has  a  significance,  and  he  can  spend 
hours  inspecting  them,  if  anything  increasing  his  interest. 
Thus  it  is  with  a  topic  for  a  speech.  The  more  work 
done  upon  its  preparation  the  more  points  of  connecting 
interest  with  other  things  we  see;  and  the  minute  the 
mind  correlates  the  speech  with  other  things  in  our  own 
experiences  interest  becomes  quickened.  Whenever  we 
see  an'article  upon  the  subject,  or  a  like  subject,  we  jump 
to  read  it,  for  it  is  connected  with  something  we  already 
know  a  little  about. ' ' 

Let  us  suppose,  as  an  extreme  case,  that  you  are  as- 
signed to  speak  upon  Greek  archaeology,  and  you  do  not 
know  even  what  the  term  means.  What  to  do?  First, 
you  proceed  to  find  out  what  the  topic  means,  and  by 
appl^nng  secondary  attention,  gain  some  informatioii 
about  it.  You  discover  that  the  Greeks,  instead  of  beir:^ 
mere  book  creatures,  actually  had  sports,  Olympic  gamoo 
in  fact;  and  that  we  are  imitating  their  sports  to-da}". 
Thus  a  connection  is  made  between  them  and  your  c^^tab- 

1  Mr.  J.  C.  Ward  Jr.,  Sibley  College,  1914. 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION 


79 


lished  interest  in  athletics.  Go  into  the  museum  of  easts 
and  look  at  the  Discus  Thrower  and  the  Wrestler ;  study 
their  muscles  and  attitudes.  Following  this  line  of  study, 
you  may  become  interested  in  Greek  art.  Again,  you 
find  the  Greeks  were  a  military  people  and  fought  heroic 
battles  on  land  and  sea.  Now  you  have  at  least  two 
points  of  contact  which  would  make  the  Greeks  interest- 
ing even  to  a  twelve-year-old.  You  find,  furthermore, 
that  they  had  industries,  science,  engineers,  lawyers, 
doctors,  slaves.  Some  or  all  of  these,  and  many  other 
bits  of  information,  develop  in  you  more  and  more  inter- 
est, until  you  find  it  no  hardship  to  study  the  material 
remains  of  this  wonderful  people.  The  points  of  first 
contact  will  shed  their  interest  upon  related  points,  and 
gradually  interest  will  suffuse  the  entire  subject.  The 
new  and  novel  will  furnish  interest  by  comparison  and 
contrast  with  the  familiar.  There  will  be  ample  scope 
for  imagination  in  making  real  the  country,  the  people 
and  their  life. 

First  stage  of  preparation:  review  of  what  one  has. 

To  illustrate  more  in  detail,  suppose  you  are  to  speak  upon 
Lincoln,  and  that  you  have  some  knowledge  of  and  inter- 
est in  your  subject.  First,  see  what  can  be  made  of 
your  present  store.  If  you  sit  down  and  frown  at  a 
piece  of  paper,  you  are  not  likely  to  accomplish  much 
thinking.  You  must  do  something  with  your  material. 
Apply  the  directions  of  Angell  and  James :  '  ^  To  keep  a 
thought  alive  .  .  .  keep  turning  it  over  and  over,  keep 
doing  something  with  if;  ^^roll  it  over  and  over  inces- 
santly and  consider  different  aspects  of  it  in  turn." 
^^Ask  questions  of  it;  examine  it  from  all  sides."  Think 
of  Lincoln  in  various  characters, — as  a  boy  on  the  fron- 
tier, as  laborer,  student,  lawyer,  politician,  stump  speaker, 
writer,  president.    Ask  yourself  how  be  became  educated 


80 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


with  such  meager  opportunities,  the  secret  of  his  success 
as  a  lawyer,  of  his  hold  upon  the  people,  of  his  success  in 
a  terrible  crisis. 

In  asking  questions  and  considering  possibilities,  do  not  refuse 
to  consider  those  that  seem  futile ;  they  may  lead  to  something. 

You  will  find  a  mechanical  device  i  of  great  benefit  in  this  work : 
write  each  idea  on  a  separate  slip  of  paper  or  a  card.  First,  this 
serves  to  objectify  your  idea,  to  get  it  out  where  you  can  view  it 
more  as  if  it  were  another's.  The  very  process  of  writing  it  down 
may  show  you  its  futility,  or  make  it  bloom  into  a  better  idea. 
Expression  both  clarifies  and  develops.  In  the  second  place,  this 
method  is  better  than  writing  in  a  note  book,  because  of  greater 
ease  of  arranging  and  rearranging  until  the  fruitless  ideas  are 
rejected  and  the  remainder  brought  into  a  system  which  shows 
their  relations. 

^  By  the  process  here  advised,  your  mind  is  aided  in 
attending  to  the  various  phases  of  the  subject'';  and  as 
a  result  your  mastery  increases.  You  are  at  least  on  the 
trail  of  some  ideas  and  have  ^*got  the  subject  on  your 
mind. "  You  have  a  beginning  on  that  important  matter, 
an  analysis;  for  to  analyze  is  to  find  out  the  possible 
topics  and  their  relations.  You  have  a  tentative  plan 
and  outline.  Furthermore,  this  stage  of  work  makes  for 
independence  and  originality  of  thought,  for  you  start 
with  an  individual  point  of  view.  It  may  be  you  will 
abandon  every  supposed  fact,  every  opinion,  every  bit  of 
analysis,  as  a  result  of  further  study;  still  you  will  not 
simply  ^'swallow  whole"  what  you  read,  but  will  use  dis- 
crimination and  judgment,  since  you  have  brought  forth 
from  the  recesses  of  your  subconscious  mind  something 
for  a  basis  of  comparison.  You  will  also  save  time  in  the 
end ;  for  knowing  v/hat  you  have  and  what  you  lack,  and 
what  some  of  the  phases  of  the  subject  are,  you  now  pro- 
ceed to  read  to  more  purpose,  looking  for  definite  things, 
rather  than  reading  hit  and  miss. 

1  Of.  Wendell,  English  Composition,  pp.  165,  173,  211. 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  81 


A  common  cause  of  poor  speaking  is  the  omission  of 
this  stage  of  preparation. 

Second  stage  of  preparation:  reading  and  conversing. 

Another  cause  of  poor  speaking  is  found  in  failure  to 
acquire  an  abundance  of  material.  You  should  now  pro- 
ceed to  increase  your  information  about  Lincoln.  This 
you  will,  in  this  case,  gain  chiefly  by  reading.  In  ideal 
preparation  you  would  read  everything  obtainable.  In 
practice  you  should  read  as  much  as  time  and  opportunity 
permit.  You  should  read  about  Lincoln  in  general,  till 
you  have  a  good  understanding  of  his  career  as  a  whole, 
in  order  that  you  may  not  get  and  give  a  distorted  view 
of  him.  Then  you  should  read  especially  upon  that 
phase  which  is  your  theme.  While  you  should  read  much, 
you  should  spend  more  time  in  thinking  of  what  you  read, 
— really  thinking,  not  mooning  over  your  book.  You 
should  be  assimilating  what  you  learn  with  what  you  al- 
ready have,  comparing,  rejecting  or  accepting,  as  judg- 
ment dictates.  *  ^  Knit  each  new  thing  on  to  some  acquisi- 
tion already  in  mind";  for  example,  each  fact  you  learn 
in  regard  to  Lincoln's  attitude  toward  slavery  should  not 
be  left  isolated,  but  should  be  compared  with  what  you 
already  have  in  mind  on  that  topic,  confirming  or  correct- 
ing your  views.  Sift,  compare,  contrast,  bind  together. 
*^To  think,"  says  Halleck,^  '^is  to  compare  things  with 
each  other,  to  notice  wherein  they  agree  and  differ,  and 
to  classify  them  according  to  those  agreements  and  dif- 
ferences."  You  need  not  only  information,  but  informa- 
tion analyzed  and  synthesized  into  order. 

But  reading  is  not  the  only  way  to  gain  facts  and  the 
stimulation  of  comparing  your  own  ideas  with  those  of 
others.    Talk  with  those  who  know.    What  could  be 
more  helpful,  in  preparing  our  imagined  speech,  than  to 
Psychology  and  Psychic  Culture^  p.  180. 


82 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


talk  with  a  man  who  actually  knew  Lincoln?  Particu- 
larly would  such  a  conversation  bring  Lincoln  home  to 
you  as  a  real  person.  But  talk  also  with  people  who  do 
not  know  much  of  your  subject,  with  many  kinds  of  peo- 
ple. They  will  suggest  new  ideas  to  you ;  and  in  particu- 
lar show  you  how  your  audience  is  likely  to  take  your 
speech  and  what  the  difficulties  are.  It  helps  some 
speakers  in  preparing  a  speech  to  talk  to  themselves. 

In  all  this  work,  and  in  that  which  follows,  notes  should  be 
taken  on  slips  or  cards,  and  the  new  cards  arranged  with  the  old 
until  the  best  order  is  found  and  the  main  heads  stand  out. 

Third  stage:  working  the  material.  The  work  now  to 
be  discussed  should  not  be  held  back  till  all  suggested 
above  has  been  done;  it  simply  should  be  more  empha- 
sized after  the  materials  are  gained.  Now  make  sure 
that  your  thought  of  the  subject  is  concrete.  In  treating 
of  a  man,  your  thinking  will  tend  to  concreteness ;  yet 
there  may  be  much  in  what  you  have  read  on  Lincoln 
that  needs  to  be  brought  to  the  touchstone  of  reality, 
especially  the  ' '  glittering  generalities ' '  in  eulogistic  utter- 
ances. What  comes  to  you  in  unfamiliar  terminology 
and  method  of  thought,  reduce  to  familiar  terms.  Com- 
pare Lincoln 's  experiences  with  familiar  experiences  and 
his  traits  with  those  you  observe  in  others.  Think  of 
his  going  about  the  homely  duties  of  life,  in  common- 
place situations;  do  not  get  a  theatrical  view  of  him,  or 
imagine  him  always  at  the  storm  center  of  a  crisis. 
Think  of  him  in  practical  terms ;  for  instance,  ask  your- 
self how  Lincoln,  with  his  characteristics  as  man,  lawyer, 
or  president,  would  act  to-day.  Would  he  be  a  corpora- 
tion lawyer  ?  A  '  ^  standpatter  "  or  a  liberal  ?  What  sug- 
gestions, practical  for  young  men,  with  regard  to  educa- 
tion, can  be  drawn  from  his  life? 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION 


83 


Do  you  think  these  suggestions  unnecessary?  I  well  remember 
the  flat  failure  of  a  college  senior  in  preparing  a  speech  on  Lincoln, 
— a  speech  he  very  much  wanted  to  make  good.  He  could  not 
•'get  going."  He  failed  simply  because  he  did  not  know  how  to 
work  and  did  not  begin  by  saturating  himself  with  Lincoln  and 
mulling  over  the  material.  He  was  not  unique  in  his  method  or 
failure. 

Imagination  in  preparation,  Throughout  the  prepara- 
tion, but  increasingly  as  you  proceed,  utilize  imagina- 
tion, ^ Hha  instrument  of  reality."  See  in  your  mind's 
eye  the  persons,  things,  acts,  and  conditions  with  which 
you  deal.  If  you  are  trying  to  understand  a  person, 
vizualize  him  as  clearly  as  you  can ;  not  as  a  mere  homo, 
but  as  tall,  sandy-haired,  ruddy-complexioned,  wearing 
a  sack  suit,  etc.  And  you  should  acquire  the  needed  in- 
formation for  imagination  to  work  upon.  Also,  you  must 
give  imagination  time  to  work.  Encourage  sound 
images,  if  sound  has  a  part  in  the  reality  you  are  con- 
sidering,— as  in  treating  of  a  battle.  Give  free  rein  to 
your  motor  imagery.  Sometimes  you  can  best  realize  a 
situation  by  imaginatively  putting  yourself  into  it,  tak- 
ing part  in  its  action  and  conversations.  Sometimes  a 
single  image  will  suffice;  again  you  will  be  helped  by 
elaborating  a  situation  in  detail,  even  working  out  a  sort 
of  drama.  Sometimes  it  is  important  that  the  imagery 
be  as  true  as  possible  to  fact,  as  when  an  engineer  is  striv- 
ing to  make  clear  to  himself  and  to  his  audience  of  capi- 
talists, the  situation  of  a  proposed  water  power;  but 
more  often  it  is  sufficient  that  imagination  build  forms 
approximately  and  essentially  true  to  reality,  true  in  im- 
pression. In  no  case  should  imagination  be  permitted  to 
produce  what  is  essentially  untrue. 

To  be  more  concrete  and  specific,  let  us  return  again  to 
your  speech  on  Lincoln.  You  will  readily  find  numerous 
pictures  and  descriptions  from  which  you  can  construct 


84 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


his  appearance.  There  is  also  a  wealth  of  anecdote  about 
Lincoln,  touching  every  phase  of  his  life,  the  most  ordi- 
nary features  as  well  as  the  most  important;  and  these 
will  enable  you  to  know  the  man.  And  you  must  know 
him  as  a  man  in  order  to  understand  him  as  an  orator  or 
as  a  statesman.  You  can  come  to  know  how  he  acted, 
how  he  talked,  the  changes  of  his  countenance  from  mirth 
to  sorrow ;  to  know  him,  in  short,  so  that  were  it  possible 
for  you  to  meet  him  in  the  flesh,  you  would  feel  like  say- 
ing, ^^Good  morning,  Mr.  Lincoln!"  Let  us  have  no 
mistake  about  this :  I  do  not  mean  that  you  should  merely 
know  certain  facts  about  Lincoln,  but  that  so  far  as  your 
peculiar  mentality  permits,  you  should  realize  Lincoln; 
not  merely  know  that  his  face  would  change  from  mirth 
as  he  told  a  story  to  sadness  as  he  felt  again  the  burden 
of  the  war,  but  see  the  change  take  place. 

I  have  emphasized  getting  acquainted  with  Lincoln, 
because  the  personal  aspect  is  most  liable  to  be  neglected 
by  the  beginner.  You  will,  of  course,  try  to  realize  the 
great  situations  in  which  Lincoln  was  placed.  Suppose 
you  are  studying  him  as  a  speaker :  after  you  have  some 
knowledge  of  his  career  as  a  whole  and  have  acquired 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  man,  you  may  take  up 
the  data  relating  to  his  early  speeches.  You  may  see 
him  making  speeches  on  a  literal  stump,  while  the  other 
hands  hoe  the  corn;  you  may  hear  him  at  the  village 
store,  telling  stories,  arguing  politics,  and  gaining  some- 
thing of  his  later  power  to  hold  attention,  to  make  clear 
arguments  and  to  expose  fallacies.  You  may  see  him 
pouring  over  scanty  documents  of  American  history ;  and 
later  arguing  with  consummate  logic  and  eminent  fair- 
ness in  the  courts.  If  you  are  giving  special  attention  to 
the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  you  cannot  understand 
these  or  feel  their  significance  unless  you  first  understand 


THE  SPEAKER^S  ATTENTION  85 

and  feel  the  situation  in  state  and  nation  into  which  they 
fitted.  You  will  wish  also  to  realize  the  immediate  set- 
tings of  those  debates.  See  the  places  in  which  he  spoke, 
take  your  place  upon  the  platforms,  gay  with  flags ;  look 
over  the  groves,  the  people  who  come  driving  ten  and 
twenty  miles  in  farm  wagons,  frontiersmen  and  children 
of  frontiersmen,  making  a  holiday,  but  yet  serious  in 
their  realization  of  the  crisis,  thinking  men  and  women 
who  can  rise  to  the  high  level  of  argument  to  which  Lin- 
coln calls  them. 

I  cannot  carry  this  farther  without  taking  undue  space.  The 
events  can  be  found  vividly  pictured  for  us  by  biographers  and  in 
historical  fiction.i  You  may  study  the  First  Inaugural  Address, 
the  Gettysburg  Address,  the  Second  Inaugural  and  Lincoln's  other 
speeches  as  you  have  the  debates. 

You  will  see  that  in  all  this  work  you  will  need  facts 
and  more  facts ;  but  quite  as  much,  judgment  and  imagi- 
nation to  enable  you  to  get  at  the  truth  and  to  realize 
the  truth  about  Lincoln.  With  such  study  as  is  sug- 
gested you  can  develop  such  a  conception  that  you  will 
be  able  to  speak  of  Lincoln  with  a  verity  and  a  personal 
interest  that  will  go  far  toward  putting  you  on  an  equal- 
ity with  those  who  knew  Lincoln  face  to  face ;  perhaps, 
with  a  more  just  estimate. 

Preparing  a  more  abstract  subject.  If  one  is  speaking 
on  such  a  subject  as  arbitration,  the  teachings  of  this 
chapter  are  still  more  needed.  The  young  speaker  is 
prone  to  deal  with  such  subjects  with  too  little  basis  in 
concrete  facts ;  and  consequently  too  shallow  understand- 
ing and  interest.    Having  but  a  second-hand  enthusiasm 

1  See,  for  example,  Churchill's  novel,  The  Crisis.    Herndon  gives 
bn  intimate  view  of  Lincoln,  his  law  partner,  but  is  not  always 
reliable.    For  a  basis  of  study  take  the  large  work  of  Nicolay  and 
I   Hay.    You  may  well  read  also  general  histories  of  Lincoln's*^  time 
!   and  the  lives  of  his  contemporaries  in  order  to  correct  the  views 
gained  from  his  partizans. 


86 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


for  arbitration,  or  worse,  a  mere  hope  that  the  topic  will 
do  for  a  speech,  with  scanty  data  drawn  from  a  shoddy 
magazine  article,  he  makes  but  a  conventional,  and  prob- 
ably a  muddy,  speech.  A  man  of  large  knowledge  of 
history  and  long  diplomatic  experience,  like  Andrew  D. 
White,  will  find  little  trouble  in  fixing  his  mind  on  arbi- 
tration. For  such  a  one  there  are  so  many  phases,  rela- 
tions, applications,  so  many  men  who  have  advocated  or 
condemned,  Hague  conferences,  signs  of  the  times, — such 
a  wealth  of  thought  material  that  the  tof  ic  is  likely  to 
tyrannize  over  attention.  The  young  speaker  has  no 
such  advantage ;  but  by  proper  handling  of  the  material 
which  he  can  find,  he  can  change  arbitration  from  an 
uncertain  object  of  attention,  drifting  for  lack  of  mooring 
in  his  mind,  into  a  strong,  clear  concept. 

Again,  he  should  make  his  preliminary  analysis  of  the 
subject,  his  search  for  information  and  the  opinions  of 
others,  and  sift,  compare  and  relate,  until  he  has  a  well 
organized  body  of  experience  and  clear  ideas.  Again, 
he  should  link  his  new  ideas  to  his  established  interests, 
in  politics,  in  economics,  in  social  science,  in  morals,  in 
religion ;  and  in  these  fields  to  his  special  interests,  as  in 
eugenics.  And  again  he  should  transmute  the  lifeless 
data  into  living  forms.  By  true  imagination  he  should 
realize  the  effects  of  war,  upon  the  battlefield,  in  the 
homes  of  the  people,  in  exhaustion  of  resources,  and  in 
deterioration  of  character ;  and  no  less  should  he  realize 
the  working  of  his  proposed  plan.  Given  this  sort  of 
preparation,  carried  out  in  sufficient  detail,  a  young  man 
can  earn  the  right  to  speak;  and  he  will  speak  with 
neither  listlessness  nor  declamation,  but  with  grasp  and 
sincerity. 

I  take  pleasure  in  inserting  here  another  paragraph  from  the 
examination  paper  quoted  before  in  this  chapter.    We  may  note 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  87 

that  the  writer  has  in  mind  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  pyra- 
mids, that  this  knowledge  has  been  linked  to  his  dominant  interest, 
engineering,  and  that  his  imagination  has  done  what  he  says  it 
should  do. 

^'Suppose  we  were  making  a  speech  on  the  Construction  of  the 
Pyramids  of  Egypt.  .  .  .  We  may  never  have  even  seen  them. 
However,  if  we  bring  imagination  into  play,  we  can  picture  the 
vast  armies  who  built  them,  the  huge,  cumbersome  carts  used  in 
carrying  the  stones,  the  hundrexis  of  sweating,  babbling  slaves  who 
were  made  to  haul  them,  the  harsh  overseers  who  drove  the  slaves 
on  to  work,  the  inclined  planes  up  which  the  stones  were  dragged  by 
sheer  might ;  and  in  time  we  could  make  the  whole  scene  be  so  real 
to  us  that  we  could  almost  imagine  ourselves  to  be  the  designers 
and  engineers.  In  this  way  the  subject  would  be  made  alive  to  us, 
and  when  we  talked  it  would  be  with  the  conviction  that  we  were 
talking  on  something  we  knew  about  from  our  own  experience^  and 
not  something  taken  out  of  a  few  dusty  old  books  and  here  merely 
something  to  talk  about." 

Expression  during  preparation.  In  working  over  your 
material,  a  method  you  will  naturally  employ  to  some 
extent  is  to  be  encouraged, — that  of  talking  and  writing 
on  the  subject.  Write  out  your  ideas  quite  regardless 
of  the  final  form  they  are  to  take.  If  you  write  from 
several  different  angles  at  different  times,  so  much  the 
better.  As  you  learn  a  forest  by  going  through  it  in 
many  directions,  so  you  may  learn  a  subject.  To  change 
the  figure,  make  many  different  cross  sections.  Some 
will  find  talking  the  subject  through  to  the  imagined 
audience  better  than  writing.  The  disadvantage  of  talk- 
ing is  that  it  is  likely  to  be  less  clear  and  orderly  than 
writing.  On  the  other  hand,  talking  helps  one  more  to 
feel  the  audience  in  advance ;  and  also  the  talks  are  not 
preserved.  The  early  written  drafts  ought  to  be  put 
resolutely  in  the  fire. 

Work  not  wasted.  It  matters  not  that  much  you  have 
learned  and  thought  out  cannot  be  used  in  your  speech ; 
no  truth  learned  need  be  considered  useless,  though  some 
truths  are  more  impoTtant  than  others  and  more  perti- 
nent to  your  purpose.  All  go  to  build  up  the  concept 
in  your  mind.    You  gain  in  mastery  as  well  as  in  inter- 


88 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


est,  and  become  able  to  speak  with  a  clearness,  a  sense  of 
proportion,  a  discrimination,  and  an  earnestness  which 
constitute  the  charm  of  a  speaker  who  is  ''full  of  his 
subject,''  as  contrasted  with  one  of  shallow  knowledge. 
We  cannot  always  explain  an  impression,  which  never- 
theless grows  upon  us  as  we  listen,  that  a  speaker  has 
nothing  back  of  what  he  says,  that  he  has  exhausted  his 
fund. 

"That  man,"  said  a  keen  student  of  a  young  lecturer,  "seems  to 
me  to  pump  himself  dry  every  day ;  he  has  to  fill  up  again  over 
night."  In  contrast,  I  have  a  friend  who,  v^hen  he  talks  of  medi- 
eval history,  seems  to  be  quite  as  much  at  home  as  in  this  present 
age ;  and  he  speaks  of  historical  characters  as  of  intimates  of  whom 
he  might  tell  us  no  end  of  good  stories.  He  makes  even  an  ig- 
noramus interested. 

A  Princeton  graduate  tells  of  a  lecture  in  which  Professor  Wood- 
row  Wilson  was  saying  to  his  class  that  Gladstone  could  make  any 
subject  of  interest,  even  a  four-hour  speech  on  the  "budget." 
"Young  men,"  exclaimed  the  professor,  "it  is  not  the  subject  that 
is  dry;  it  is  you  that  are  dry  I"  Not  unrelated  to  Gladstone's 
power  of  interesting  audiences  are  the  facts  that  he  had  wonderful 
stores  of  knowledge  on  a  great  diversity  of  subjects,  and  that  he 
had  also  a  remarkable  ability  in  "getting  up"  a  special  topic. 

We  all  like  to  hear  the  speaker  who  has  known  the  hero 
he  eulogizes,  or  has  been  through  the  experience  he 
describes,  or  has  fought  for  the  cause  he  advocates ;  be- 
cause, as  we  say,  ''his  subject  means  something  to  him." 
There  is  a  sense  of  reality  and  a  ring  of  earnestness 
rather  than  forced  interest.  It  is  in  experience  that  the 
older  speaker  has  an  advantage  over  the  younger,  whose 
flashy  enthusiasm  is  much  less  impressive  than  the 
quieter  words  of  the  veteran.  This  advantage  cannot 
be  entirely  overcome ;  but  the  man  who  knows  and  who 
is  in  earnest  will  be  listened  to  whatever  his  age. 

Give  time  to  your  work:  begin  early.  ''The  longer  one 
does  attend  to  a  topic,  the  more  mastery  of  it  one  has." 
We  have  considered  at  length  the  means  of  prolonging 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  89 


and  developing  attention.  It  remains  to  be  said  that  not 
only  the  time  spent  in  actual  work  counts,  but  also  the 
mere  length  of  time  you  carry  your  topic  in  mind.  Select 
your  topic  as  early  as  possible  and  give  it  time  to  **bud 
and  sprout  and  grow, ' '  time  for  the  relationships  to  clear 
up,  and  for  the  processes  of  assimilation  to  complete 
themselves,  give  time  for  the  ^^unconscious  cerebration," 
or  in  homely  phrase,  for  the  matter  to  *^soak  in";  and 
especially  give  time  for  imagination  to  work. 

We  may  appropriate  what  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  makes  the 
Autocrat  say  i  of  conversation :  *'Talk  about  those  subjects  you 
have  had  long  in  your  mind.  .  .  .  Knowledge  and  timber  should  n't 
be  used  till  they  are  seasoned.'*  When  you  have  put  an  idea  in 
your  mind  and  return  to  it  after  an  interval,  *'you  do  not  find  it  as 
it  was  when  acquired.  It  has  domiciliated  itself,  so  to  speak, — 
become  at  home, — entered  into  relations  with  your  other  thoughts, 
and  integrated  itself  with  the  whole  fabric  of  the  mind." 

There  is  another  good  reason  for  starting  early  in  the 
fact  that  once  we  have  set  our  minds  for  a  certain  topic, 
materials  and  ideas  seem  to  flow  to  us  from  every  direc- 
tion. They  existed  all  about  us  before,  of  course,  but 
we  did  not  notice  them.  We  find  articles  and  books  on 
the  subject  when  we  are  looking  for  other  matter,  and 
from  the  commonest  experience  we  may  draw  a  valuable 
illustration.  Good  illustrations  are  highly  important  in 
speech-making  and  exceedingly  hard  to  find  when  wanted. 
Other  materials  we  usually  can  find  by  systematic  search, 
but  the  right  illustration  may  elude  us.  If  we  discover 
early  what  sort  of  illustrations  we  need,  we  have  a  better 
chance  to  find  them  by  good  luck. 

We  should  begin  early,  also,  that  we  may  the  better 
criticize  our  own  work.  We  all  know  that  after  strug- 
gling over  a  piece  of  composition,  or  other  constructive 
work,  we  are  not  immediately  in  a  position  to  judge  it. 

1  The  Autoci-at  at  the  Breakfast  Table,  p.  138. 


90  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Put  it  aside  for  a  time,  and  we  are  better  able  to  *'size  it 
up/'  And  we  shall  find  that  it  is  with  extreme  difficulty 
that  we  get  any  genuine  criticism  except  our  own. 

Failure  to  begin  speeches  early  is  one  of  the  common- 
est causes  of  poor  speaking,  especially  in  class  work. 
Students  often  feel  that  it  is  all  the  same  if  they  put  in 
the  due  amount  of  work  in  a  hurry  as  late  as  possible ; 
but  they  deceive  themselves.  In  the  hastily  prepared 
speech  there  is  lack  of  assimilation,  of  clear  order,  of 
sureness  of  touch,  of  the  sense  of  reality.  Moreover,  the 
speaker  who  has  hurried  his  work  at  the  end  will  be 
nervous,  and  will  lack  good  control  of  his  thoughts. 
Whatever  amount  of  time  you  have  for  the  preparation 
of  a  speech,  use  part  of  that  time  as  early  as  possible. 
You  will  get  a  better  return  on  the  time  and  energy  spent. 

These  teachings  are  practical.  '^But,''  demands  a 
voice,  '^how  much  time  do  you  think  we  can  give  to  the 
preparation  of  a  short  speech  ?    We  have  something  else 

^0  do!''  I  beg  your  pardon;  I  thought  you  wished  to 
make  a  good  speech,  the  best  you  are  capable  of.  Of 
course,  those  who  wish  to  learn  how  to  make  a  speech 
with  nothing  to  say,  have  no  use  for  the  doctrines  of  this 
chapter.  I  have  been  speaking  of  thorough-going  prepa- 
ration. It  is  true  that  such  preparation  may  take  a 
long  time.  When  great  speeches  have  been  made  with 
apparently  little  preparation,  as  in  the  classic  instance 
of  Webster's  Reply  to  Hayne,  they  have  really  sprung 

'  from  years  of  study,  discussion  and  experience,  in  which 
materials  have  been  amassed.  Young  man,"  Webster 
is  reported  to  have  said  to  a  conceited  youth,  'Hhere  is 
no  such  thing  as  extemporaneous  acquisition."  Not 
only  have  materials  been  amassed,  but,  what  is  quite  as 
important  for  the  purpose,  they  have  been  formulated 
over  and  over  again,  and  in  different  ways. 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  91 


Grady,  we  are  told,  rose  to  make  his  speech  on  the  New  South, 
whiiih  gave  him  fame  in  a  night,  without  knowing  what  he  would 
say.  In  the  first  place,  one  simply  does  not  believe  Grady  so 
foolish  as  to  come  to  this  important  event  without  careful  thought 
of  matter,  arrangement  and  form  of  expression.  He  probably 
left  until  the  occasion  decisions  in  regard  to  which  of  certain 
points  and  illustrations  were  best  suited  to  the  spirit  of  the  hour, 
how  serious  he  might  be,  how  strong  and  open  his  appeal ;  it  may 
be  that  with  his  experience  he  trusted  in  part  to  the  moment  for 
the  phrasing  of  his  thoughts.  But  as  to  what  he  wished  to  do 
and  what  means  he  had  to  use,  he  was  no  doubt  clear  in  advance. 
In  the  second  place,  Grady  had  been  thinking,  writing  and  speak- 
ing on  his  subject  all  his  life.  It  was  the  one  topic  to  dominate 
the  thought  of  a  man  of  his  temperament  and  generation  in  the 
South.  His  position  as  editor  of  an  influential  Southern  daily  also 
kept  him  discussing  this  theme. 

It  is  true  that  speakers  unprepared  may  sometimes 
have  brilliant  inspirations,  just  as  one  may  sometimes 
find  gold  when  only  out  for  a  walk ;  but  usually  inspira- 
tions come  to  those  who  make  ready  for  them.  They  are 
the  product  of  preparation.  We  find  on  investigation 
that  most  of  the  stories  of  unprepared  successes  are  apoc- 
ryphal. They  are  like  the  stories  of  the  brilliant  passing 
of  examinations  without  preparation.  The  thing  is 
done;  but  nine  stories  out  of  ten  are,  not  to  be  harsh, 
brag,  and  the  other  case  is  not  a  safe  precedent  for  the 
average  student. 

Granted  that  the  foregoing  suggestions  cannot  be  car- 
ried out  ideally  in  all  cases,  still  it  is  better  to  know  what 
can  be  done,  in  order  that  w^e  may  work  wdsely  and  not 
fail  to  work  for  lack  of  knowledge  of  something  to  do. 
After  all,  much  can  be  done  even  in  a  short  time,  by 
working  on  the  right  lines.  We  may  not  be  able  to  be- 
come specialists  on  all  our  themes,  though  that  would  be 
desirable ;  yet  we  may  approach  the  specialist  in  having 
a  considerable  body  of  knowledge  and  in  having  this 
well  analyzed  and  synthesized.  We  should  note,  too, 
that  it  is  better  to  make  a  few  good  speeches  than  many 


92  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

poor  ones.  If  we  cannot  have  some  degree  of  mastery 
of  our  topics,  we  had  better  keep  still. 

There  are  several  encouraging  features.  In  the  first 
place,  the  class  of  speakers  for  whom  this  book  is  written, 
having  lived  a  considerable  number  of  years,  should  not 
be  entirely  empty-headed  or  without  experience.  They 
should  begin  with  their  established  interests,  the  things 
they  know  about.  To  return  to  Lincoln,  Americans  of 
college  age  should  know  a  good  deal  of  American  history, 
should  understand  something  of  the  great  struggle  be- 
tween the  North  and  the  South,  and  they  should  know  a 
good  deal  about  Lincoln.  So  they  should  have  a  pretty 
good  foundation  to  build  upon.  Unfortunately  many 
college  students  have  very  little  historical  knowledge; 
but  there  are  thousands  of  good  subjects,  and  many  of 
these  are  very  close  to  the  interests  of  young  men.  Gen- 
erally the  topic  one  does  know  about  and  is  interested  in, 
or  some  offshoot  of  it,  will  serve  for  a  speech.  (See 
chapter  on  Selecting  the  Subject.) 

But,  as  was  said  before,  even  if  one  must  take  a  theme 
for  which  he  has  little  foundation,  still  the  case  is  not 
hopeless.  One  should  in  any  case  choose  a  subject  worth 
thorough  study  for  its  own  sake,  and  thus  secure  a  double 
return  for  the  work  done.  This  does  not  mean  the  sub- 
ject must  have  to  do  with  the  foundations  of  the  earth ; 
but  still  it  should  be  something  one  will  be  glad  to  know 
about  later. 

Another  encouraging  circumstance  is  that  not  every 
speech  need  be  made  in  a  new  field.  Any  subject  has 
many  phases,  any  one  of  which  is  likely  to  prove  more 
than  sufficient  for  a  speech,  provided  the  speaker  is  well 
informed.  The  desire  to  range  superficially  all  over  a 
large  subject  is  evidence  of  ignorance.  Having  spoken  on 
one  phase  of  a  subject,  next  time  the  speaker  may  take 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  93 


another  phase  of  the  same  subject,  and  he  will  find  that 
the  previous  study  proves  helpful.  Knowledge,  mastery 
and  interest  will  grow ;  the  speeches  will  be  better  and  the 
incidental  culture  greater  than  if  one  touches  superficially 
many  fields.  This  presumes,  of  course,  that  the  speaker 
will  make  real  progress  each  time  he  speaks,  and  not  gc 
on  repeating  on  the  basis  of  his  first  preparation.  A  man 
may  do  a  great  deal  of  speaking  throughout  a  long  career, 
without  tiresome  repetition,  yet  use  but  few  themes  and 
those  related.  Nearly  all  that  Webster  said  in  his  many 
speeches,  if  we  except  those  incidental  to  his  law  practice 
and  the  routine  business  of  the  Senate,  and  including 
much  in  those,  could  be  grouped  around  one  theme,  The 
Constitution.  A  man  gains  more  reputation  and  pro- 
duces more  effect  by  limiting  his  range. 

On  the  platform.  So  far  we  have  dealt  with  prepara- 
tion, though  the  effect  upon  delivery  has  been  one  of  the 
objects  in  view.  When  preparation  is  right,  the  prospect 
for  good  delivery  is  encouraging.  It  has  become  possible, 
even  probable.  It  is  nearly  always  true  in  speaking  that, 
in  the  phrase  quoted  from  Helmholtz,  other  powerful 
impressions  are  attracting  us  away."  The  clearer  our 
understanding  and  the  stronger  the  hold  of  our  ideas  on 
our  attention,  the  easier  it  is  to  think  on  our  feet  and  to 
speak  our  words  with  full  and  definite  ^^consciousness  of 
meaning.''  Stage  fright  is  far  less  likely  to  attack  one 
whose  thought  is  clear  and  vivid  and  based  upon  ample 
foundations.  .While  the  preparation  urged  in  this  chap- 
ter does  not  insure  talking  with  the  audience,"  yet  a 
well  developed  interest  and  the  feeling  of  having  some- 
thing to  say,  are  likely  to  create  a  strong  desire  to  reach 
one 's  hearers. 

Imagery  during*  delivery.  Just  how  much  imagery 
there  should  be  in  a  speaker's  mind  during  delivery,  no 


94 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


one  can  say ;  but  we  can  say  that,  while  imagery  should 
not  be  forced,  it  should  be  encouraged  for  the  sake  of 
added  vividness.  If  the  sentences  deal  with  objective 
realities,  persons,  objects,  events,  then  a  great  deal  of 
imagery  should  be  present;  for  one  can  surely  describe 
better  to  others  what  he  himself  images.  Moreover,  ab- 
stractions can  be  translated  into  concrete  forms,  and  this 
translation  is  often  needed.  Such  a  sentence  as  this 
from  Carlyle  (see  selection  at  end  of  Chapter  XIV,  en- 
titled Await  the  Issue),  ''One  strong  thing  I  find  here 
below,  the  just  thing,  the  true  thing,''  may  need  some 
image  like  that  of  a  rock  defying  the  sea,  in  order  that 
the  speaker  may  get  the  feeling  of  assured  strength  that 
the  sentence  contains, — the  same  effect  we  get  from  an 
expressed  metaphor.  Imagery  enhances  feeling.  Of 
course,  much  that  has  come  into  mind  during  preparation 
must  drop  out,  having  served  its  purpose  of  putting 
meaning  and  feeling  into  our  ideas  and  words.  There 
should  be  no  attempt  to  force  the  mind  as  one  speaks  to 
form  some  particular  image,  unless  for  the  purpose  of 
iaccurate  description.  The  mind  should  be  left  as  free  as 
circumstances  permit ;  but  if  in  preparation  the  '  'thought 
movement"  has  been  gone  through  repeatedly,  with  ap- 
propriate and  helpful  imagery  encouraged  and  inappro- 
priate and  distracting  imagery  inhibited,  imagination 
will  tend  to  be  helpfully  active  during  delivery,  especially 
if  the  speaker  is  duly  deliberate.  In  practice  speaking 
before  public  appearance,  one  may  well  chfinitely  strive 
for  the  formation  of  distinct  and  appropriate  mental 
imagery. 

Staleness.  When  one  has  to  repeat  a  speech  several 
times,  he  should  find  it  growing  in  interest  and  improv- 
ing in  expression.  This  will  be  true  if  his  knowledge 
grows  and  his  thinking  continues.    But  if  one  does  find 


THE  SPEAKER'S  ATTENTION  95 


himself  stale,  the  best  way  to  freshen  interest  is  to  repeat 
the  steps  of  the  original  preparation,  going  over  the 
data,  the  analyses,  the  concrete  situations,  utilizing 
imagination;  and  also  finding  new  data,  new  illustra- 
tions, new  applications,  combining  the  new  with  the  old 
and  doing  more  thinking.  Very  easily  this  could  be  done 
to-day  with  speeches  on  peace  and  war.  Often  it  is 
best  to  prepare  a  new  speech,  approaching  the  subject 
from  a  new  angle,  and  thus  avoiding  the  dangers  of  new 
wine  in  old  bottles  and  new  patches  on  old  cloth.  The 
process  will  compel  fresh  thinking,  and  that  is  what  is 
needed. 

Often  a  student  in  preparing  for  a  speaking  contest  begins  to 
lose  interest  in  his  speech.  He  is  sure  to  do  so  if  his  preparation 
has  not  been  genuine,  if  it  has  been  too  much  a  matter  of  form  and 
is  not  based  on  conviction.  The  standard  prescription  is  :  Go  fill 
yourself  with  the  subject ;  read  about  it,  talk  about  it  with  those 
who  know;  forget  your  speech  and  ponder  your  subject  until  you 
really  want  to  speak  because  you  have  a  message.  If  the  speech 
will  not  bear  this  treatment,  or  if  the  student  is  not  capable  of 
following  the  advice,  his  case  is  hopeless ;  though  he  may  make  a 
very  pretty  speech. 

Conclusion.  In  this  and  in  the  preceding  chapter  I 
have  put  great  stress  upon  a  truism, — that  a  speaker 
should  have__a  jnastery  of  ^^^^^^^^^^^  speaks^' 
Perhaps  as  an  abstract  proposition,  few  would  question 
this  truth ;  but  practically  the  need  for  emphasis  is  great. 
Truisms  often  suffer  neglect.  There  are  a  few  whose  am- 
bition it  is  to  ^succeed  in  public  speaking  by  mere  tricks 
of  delivery  and  a  few  smart  sayings.  There  are  many 
who,  though  sincere,  yet  do  practically  ignore  the  truism, 
through  both  indolence  and  training.  Prom  the  lower 
grades  up,  they  have  been  copying  matter  from  books, 
with  a  little  condensing  and  rearranging,  but  with  little 
assimilation,  and  handing  it  in  to  satisfy  the  unceasing 


96 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


demand  for  compositions  and  ^'papers."    The  emphasis  ' 
here  put  upon  the  principles  and  methods  of  preparation 
is  due  to  long  experience  in  attempting  to  teach  college 
students  to  speak  in  an  interesting,  elfective  and  sincere 
way. 


CHAPTER  V 


EMOTION 

We  should  now  give  special  attention  to  a  subject  that 
is  much  involved  in  Chapters  III  and  IV;  that  is,  feeling 
or.  emotion.  For  our  purposes  we  may  disregard  the 
psychologist's  distinction  between  these  words. 
U-^tmportance  of  emojjii^.  One  often  meets  a  prejudice 
against  tfe^C^v^y^'l^wds  feeling  and  emotion.  This  is  due 
in  part  to  a  misuse  of  them.  The  prejudice  is  often 
really  against  excessive  emotion,  against  control  by  emo- 
tion in  defiance  of  reason,  or  against  the  over-free  ex- 
pression of  emotion.  Perhaps  a  better  word  to  express 
the  thing  objected  to  is  sent imentality,\  'Emotion  is  a 
constant  factor  in  our  mental  states,  unless  we  reach 
absolute  indifference.  To  be  withou  emotion,  indeed,  is 
to  be  without  interest,  without  frappiness  as  we\l  as  With- 
out sorrow,  without  desires  gppd  &r  bad.  ]gve^ourj:M— s 
sonsareusually  emotions^.  Whether  we  act  for  the  sake 
oF^^faP^^wSi^^  for  love  of  country,  whether 

we  seek  selfish  pleasure  or  die  for  a  friend,  whether  we 
decide  for  short  life  and  a  merry  one"  or  for  a 
moral,  temperate  career,  and  whether  we  do  our  work 
or  go  to  the  game, — in  all  cases  we  act,  if  we  are  acting 
Jbeyond  the  range  of  habit,  under  the  control  of  emotion. 
It  makes  no  difference  that  we  may  call  our  emotion  a 
reason  or  a  motive.  Even  the  man  who  prides  himself 
most  on  living  the  life  of  reason  must,  if  he  be  a  true 
philosopher,  be  led  by  one  master  emotion, — ^love  of 

97 


98 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


truth.  We  should  fix  in  our  minds  the  fact  that  emo^ 
tion,  as  such,  is  neither  good  nor  bad ;  that  a  particular 
emotion  may  be  good  or  bad.  Also,  emotions  may  be 
violent,  moderate,  or  weak  in  their  expression.  The  man 
who  loses  himself  in  the  study  of  minerals  may  be  as 
truly  emotional  as  one  who  cheers  for  Alma  Mater. 
Emotion  has  no  necessary  relation  to  either  whoops  or 
tears. 

Emotion  and  sincerity.  To  say  the  spe  ^ker  should  feel 
as  well  as  think,  is  not  to  say  that  he  must  be  senti- 
m-cntal,  or  speak  with  tears  in  his  voice,''  or  exhibit 
any  extreme  whatever,  except  in  the  rare  instances  when 
extreme  expression  is  the  fitting  response  to  the  ideas 
expressed  and  the  situation  faced.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  a  speaker  represses  himself  for  fear  of  being  insin- 
cere, he  forgets  that  the  pretense  of  indifference  is  no 
less  insincere  than  the  pretense  of  feeling.  We  should 
not  only  mean  what  we  say,  but  say  what  we  mean ;  and 
this  includes  emotion  as  well  as  thought.  Sincerity  de- 
mands responsiveness  to  the  moods  and  feelings  ex- 
pressed. It  does  not  ordinarily  demand  excitement  in 
expression,  for  ordinarily  one  is  not  expressing  excite- 
ment. Sincerity  is  usually  calm  though  earnest;  but 
there  are  times  when  calmness  is  the  worst  of  affectations. 
Self-control  is  good  and  necessary :  but  indifference  and 
repression  are  not  only  insincere^  they  mean  failure  as 
a  speaker.  Even  though  the  subject-matter  be  as  cold 
as  a  demonstration  in  geometry,  the  speaker  should  not 
be  indifferent.  There  is  always  at  least  one  appropriate 
emotion, — the  desire  to  reach  one's  hearers.  In  the  na- 
ture of  things,  few  speeches  are  cold;  they  deal  for  the 
most  part  with  warm  human  interests  and  range  through 
the  whole  gamut  of  emotions.  j 

Emotion  necessary  to  the  speaker.    A  speaker  should  < 


EMOTION 


99 


feel  what  he  says,  not  only  to  be  sincere,  but  also  to  be 
effective.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  truisms  that  if  we 
wish  to  make  others  feel,  we  ourselves  must  feel.  And 
it  is  frequently  important  to  a  speaker  that  he  should 
make  others  feel,  make  them  care  about  the  causes  he 
presents  and  desire  the  end  he  seeks.  We  know  we  do 
not  respond  with  enthusiasm  to  an  advocate  who  lacks 
enthusiasm.  And  quite  apart  from  response,  we  do  not 
like  speakers  who  do  not  seem  to  care.  We  like  the  man 
who  means  what  he  says. 

Emotion  not  to  be  assumed.  It  may  be  that  some  actors 
go  through  their  parts  cold;  and  we  may  even  admire 
the  more  their  consummate  skill.  But  a  speaker  is  not 
an  actor ;  he  is  not  playing  a  part.  He  is  expressing  him.- 
self;  and  the  suspicion  that  he  does  not  care  about  what 
he  is  saying,  that  he  is  not  sincere,  is  fatal  to  his  influ- 
ence. And  if  a  speaker  is  not  sincere,  he  is  almost  sure 
to  betray  himself.  There  are  subtle  effects  upon  voice, 
the  tones  and  the  accent,  which  only  the  most  skilled 
actor  can  control,  but  which  the  simplest  man  can  feel. 
There  is  a  man,  rather  prominent  in  public  life  for  many 
years,  who  is  called  a  great  orator.  Nature  gave  him  a 
voice  of  such  quality  that  his  mere  '^Ladies  and  Gentle;.,-^ 
[men''  sends  a  thrill  through  his  hearers.'  He  has  held 
many"5i  audience  spellbound  for  hours;  yet  his  influ- 
ence has  been  notably  small.  It  has  rapidly  dmndled 
as  his  reputation  for  insincerity  has  grown;  for  even 
though  one  may  trick  an  audience  once  or  twice,  he 
cannot  continue  to  deceive.  For  the  average  speaker, 
lacking  a  high  degree  of  skill,  deception  is  impossible. 

It  is  true  that  we  sometimes  hear  men  delivering  with  seeming 
earnestness,  truths  with  which  their  practice  does  not  square;  but 
the  contradiction  is  more  apparent  than  real.  Men  often  do  believe 
earnestly  in  virtues  which  they  do  not  practise.  The  drunkard, 
when  sobered  up,  believes,  and  no  one  has  better  reasons  for  be- 


100 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


lieviDg,  in  the  virtue  of  temperance.  Men  rarely  speak  with  a 
tone  of  conviction  without,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  believing 
what  they  say.  Of  course,  no  intelligent  hearer  is  deceived  by 
mere  loudness  of  tone,  redness  of  face,  or  extravagance  of  gesture. 
And,  of  course,  no  honest  man  will  desire  to  gain  the  skill  to  de- 
ceive successfully. 

Can  a  speaker  command  his  feelings?  Feelings  are 
most  difficult  of  control.  They  will  not  bear  watching; 
nor  can  they  be  commanded  in  the  sense  that  one  can  say, 
'  ^  Go  to,  now,  this  is  a  patriotic  occasion ;  I  will  therefore 
feel  patriotic ! ' '  What  then  is  the  speaker 's  case  ?  Must 
he  wait  till  feeling  comes  along  to  move  him  out  of  his 
indifference  ?  This  would  do,  perhaps,  if  he  could  speak 
always  on  great  occasions,  or  before  inspiring  audiences ; 
but  he  cannot.  Nor  does  he  speak  just  when  he  feels 
like  it;  but  most  often  on  some  conventional  occasion, 
often  without  any  inspiration,  without  any  initial  in- 
spiration, at  any  rate,  from  occasion  or  audience.  He 
looks  into  faces  which  at  best  express  only  mild  curiosity. 
Consider  the  faces  with  that  ^'do-your-duty-and-go  to- 
church"  expression  which  the  average  preacher  has  to 
confront.  On  most  occasions,  if  there  is  to  be  life,  inter- 
est and  enthusiasm,  the  speaker  must  arouse  them. 
There  are,  of  course,  audiences  and  occasions  which 
stimulate  the  speaker,  but  these  are  the  exceptions. 
Again,  while  the  speaker  usually  does  well  to  begin 
quietly,  still  he  must  be  thoroughly  alert  and  prepared  in 
spirit  at  the  start;  he  cannot  afford  to  waste  the  initial 
interest  of  his  hearers.  What,  then,  can  he  do  to  prepare 
himself  emotionally  for  his  address  ? 

He  can  refrain  from  repressing  his  feelings.  Many  a 
young  speaker  will  find  by  introspection  that  by  a  feigned 
indifference,  assumed  to  cover  embarrassment  or  because 
of  a  foolish  fear  of  being  thought  to  '^put  on,"  or  by  a 
habit  of  repression,  he  is  actually  killing  off  his  emotions 


EMOTION 


101 


-Express  emotion  and  it  grows;  repress  it  and  it  dies.  ^ 
He  can  positively  encourage  emotion:  by  physical 
means.  Instead  of  repressing  his  tendencies  to  feeling, 
the  speaker  should  arouse  himself,  throw  off  the  air  of 
indifference  and  take  on  alertness.  ^'Setting-up  exer- 
cises," and  especially  deep  breathing,  give  a  good  start. 
Physical  earnestness  is  an  important  condition  of  mental 
earnestness.    This  is  beyond  dispute. 

The  James-Lange  theory  of  emotions.  The  statements 
of  the  two  preceding  paragraphs  find  support  in  the 
theory  which  holds  that  '^the  feeling,  in  the  coarser  emo- 
tions,, results  from  the  bodily  expression."  To  quote 
Professor  James :  ^ — 

^'Common-sense  says,  we  lose  our  fortune,  are  sorry 
and  weep ;  we  liieet  a  bear,  are  frightened  and  run ;  we 
are  insulted  by  a  rival,  ^re  angry  and  strik^.  .  .  .  The 
more  rational  statement  i^,  that  we  feel  sorry  because  we 
cry,  angry  because  we  strike,  afraid  because  we  tremble. 
.  .  .  Stated  in  this  crude  way,  the  hypothesis  is  pretty 
sure  to  meet  with  immediate  disbelief." 

But  Professor  James  proceeds  to  give  an  argument, 
too  long  and  technical  to  be  quoted  here,  which  has 
convinced  many.  The  theory  that  the  emotion  is 
''nothing  but  the  feeling  of  a  bodily  state,  and  it  has  a 
purely  bodily  cause,"  is  difficult  to  demonstrate  by  ex- 
periment; for  2  "the  immense  number  of  parts  modified 
.  .  .  makes  it  so  difficult  for  us  to  reproduce  in  cold  blood 
the  total  and  integral  expression  of  any  one  emotion. 
We  may  catch  it  with  the  voluntary  muscles,  but  fail 
with  the  skin,  glands,  heart,  and  other  viscera."  Now, 
if  the  theory  be  true,  a  corollary  should  be  that  any  vol- 
untary manifestation  of  an  emotion  should  give  us  the 
emotion  itself. 

^  Briefer  Course,  y.  oTr>.  -I  dent,  p.  oTS. 


0 


102 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


^ ' '  Everybody  knows  how  panic  is  increased  by  flight, 
and  how  the  giving  away  to  the  symptoms  of  grief  or 
anger  incre^ises  the  passions  themselves.  ...  In  rage,  it 
is  notorious  how  we  ^work  ourselves  up'  to  a  climax  by 
repeated  outbursts  of  expression.  Refuse  to  express  the 
l^assion  and  it  dies.  Count  ten  before  venting  your 
anger,  and  its  occasion  seems  ridiculous.  Whistling  to 
keep  up  courage  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech.  On  the 
other  hand,  sit  all  day  in  a  moping  posture,  sigh,  and 
reply  to  everything  with  a  dismal  voice,  and  your  melan- 
choly lingers.  ,There  is  no  more  valuable  precept  in 
moral  education  than  this,  as  all  w^ho  have  experience 
know;  if  we  wish  to  conquer  undesirable  emotional  tend- 
encies in  ourselves,  we  must  assiduously,  and  in  the  first 
instance  cold-bloodedly,  go  through  the  outward  move- 
ments of  those  contrary  dispositions  which  we  prefer  to 
cultivate.  The  reward  of  persistency  will  infallibly 
come,  in  the  fading  out  of  the  sullenness  or  depression, 
and  the  advent  of  real  cheerfulness  and  kindliness  in 
their  stead.  Smooth  the  brow,  brighten  the  eye,  contract 
the  dorsal  rather  than  the  ventral  aspect  of  the  frame, 
and  speak  in  a  major  key,  pass  the  genial  compliment, 
and  your  heart  must  be  frigid  indeed  if  it  do  not  gradu- 
ally thaw." 

Did  yon  never  begin  to  speak  mildly  your  displeasure,  and  sud- 
denly flame  out  into  denunciation  ;  or  to  express  approval  and  find 
yourself  running  into  extravagant  praise?  "I  didn't  mean  to  say 
all  that,"  you  explain  ruefully,  **but  my  tongue  ran  aw^ay  with 
me."  And  do  v^e  not  all  know  how  laughing  freely  increases  one's 
sense  of  humor? 

It  should  be  said  that  this  theory  of  emotion  has  not 
been  generally  accepted  in  its  entirety,  though  most 
psychologists  admit  it  contains  a  large  measure  of  truth. 
It  undoubtedly  contains  an  important  suggestion  for  us, 
seen  especially  in  the  last  quotation  from  James.  We 
have  some  control  over  our  feelings,  in  a  ph^'-sical  way; 
we  can  at  least  prepare  for  them  and  encourage  thetn, 

I  Briefer  Course,  p.  382. 


EMOTION 


lOS 


Action  and  expression  increase  emotion.  Act  bold  and 
we  shall  tend  to  feel  bold;  act  interested  and  we  shall 
tend  to  feel  interested.  But  perhaps  the  most  valuable 
lesson  we  can  draw  from  our  consideration  of  the  relation 
of  action  and  bearing  to  emotion,  is  just  this :  By  means 
largely  physical  one  can  bring  himself  out  of  indifference 
and  establish  a  mood  of  alertness  and  responsiveness  to 
the  emotions  of  one's  speech. 

The  speaker  can  develop  emotion  from  ideas.  Having 
gained  a  valuable  suggestion  from  the  James-Lange  the- 
ory of  emotion,  we  are  still  glad  we  do  not  have  to  accept 
it  fully,  but  may  retain  our  belief  that  emotions  spring 
directly  from  perceptions  an  A  ideas.  To  what  extent 
these  may  arouse  emotions  in  a  given  instance,  depends 
of  course  upon  what  they  are,  upon  what  we  are  and 
upon  how  they  are  related  to  our  experiences;  and  also 
upon  how  vivid,  recent  and  oft  repeated  these  experi- 
ences have  been,  and  upon  the  way  in  which  the  ideas  are 
presented  to  our  minds.  The  more  concrete  their  present 
tation  and  the  more  vivid  their  imagery,  the  more  ideas 
tend  to  arouse  emotion.  In  other  words,  emotion  will  be 
the'natural  result  of  much  of  the  work  urged  in  the  two 
preceding  chapters,  which  might  well  be  reviewed  at  this 
point  with  the  thought  of  emotion  in  mind. 

The  term  associiations  will  prove  useful  in  this  connec- 
tion. We  may  say  that  the  feeling  which  is  aroused  by  a 
word  or  an  idea  depends  greatly  upon  the  associations 
one's  mind  has  for  it;  upon  what  has  been  attached  to  it 
by  observation,  study  and  experience.  Home,  flag  and 
mother  are  examples  of  words  notably  strong  in  emo- 
tional associations  and  therefore  tending  to  arouse  vivid 
imagery  and  strong  feeling.  It  is  evidence  of  their  force 
that  the  words  instanced  are  greatly  overworked  for  the 
purpose  of  evoking  feeling. 


104 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


It  should  be  plain  from  the  preceding  chapters  that  we 
are  not  limited  to  actual  experience  for  associations.  To 
the  youth  who  has  lived  the  ordinary  protected  life,  the 
idea  of  justice  has  little  emotional  significance.  He  will 
tell  you  he  knows  what  it  means,  that  he  believes  in  jus- 
tice for  all,  he  will  readily  subscribe  to  any  maxim  about 
justice;  yet  the  idea  has  little  meaning  for  him  and  his 
voice  lacks  the  ring  of  conviction.  But  suppose  he  has 
suffered  injustice,  or  is  of  a  people  that  has  suffered  in- 
justice ;  then  the  idea  will  possess  him  and  he  will  speak 
with  an  accent  that  leaves  no  doubt  of  sincerity.  I  have 
in  mind  students  from  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines, 
who  believed  their  countries  wronged  by  the  United 
States.  But  suppose,  again,  the  youth  has  been  stirred 
by  the  wrongs  of  others  and  has  fought  for  justice  to  an 
individual  or  a  class:  then  also  the  idea  may  command 
him.  Or,  again,  let  us  suppose  he  has  read  history  until 
the  long  struggle  for  human  rights  has  become  real  to 
him :  then,  again,  though  the  interest  may  not  be  so  keen 
and  enduring,  it  may  still  be  commanding. 

What  to  do.  Go  over  the  thought  material  of  which 
your  speech  is  composed,  considering  the  importance  of 
the  issues  involved,  their  jjractical  bearings,  illustrations 
from  history  and  experience,  especially  those  warm  with 
human  interest ;  bring  the  matter  home  to  yourself  in  the 
most  familiar  and  intimate  way.  Imagination  has  a 
great  part  to  play  here ;  for  it  is  the  spring  of  sympathy, 
— the  means  of  ''putting  yourself  in,  the  other  fellow's 
place. "  B^T^  means  of  visual,  auditory  and  motor  imagery 
put  yourself  into  the  very  situation  discussed,  and  you 
will  feel  the  struggle,  the  triumph,  or  whatever  emotion 
the  situation  contains.  In  general,  do  the  work  outlined 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Analysis  and  feeling.    It  is  desirable  that  there  should 


EMOTION 


105 


be  some  interval  between  the  analytic  part  of  one's  prep- 
aration and  the  delivery  of  the  speech.  The  analytic 
frame  of  mind  is  cold,  for  analysis  is  largely  a  process  of 
abstraction;  and  abstraction  has  as  little  as  possible  to 
do  with  words  of  vivid  imagery  and  emotional  associa- 
tion. The  speaker  should  be  able  to  make  a  cold,  clear 
analysis  of  his  subject;  but  he  should  pass  from  this 
stage  of  \YOvk  to  another  in  which  he  feels  as  well  as  un- 
derstands his  ideas. 

The  time  element.  In  considering  feeling  we  are  again 
impressed  with  the  need  of  taking  time  in  preparation. 
Feeling  is  not  to  be  coerced ;  it  is  to  be  developed  from 
the  thought  as  it  is  worked  over  and  assimilated.  Only 
through  assimilation  can  there  be  genuine  feeling,  with 
the  requisite  self-forgetfulness  and  abandon.  When  a 
man  speaks  out  of  earnest  feeling  without  prolonged 
special  preparation,  as  in  the  case  of  Grady  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  will  be  found  that  back  of 
the  speech  lies  long  experience. 

Balance  of  thought  and  feeling.  A  speaker  who  makes 
his  study  of  Lincoln,  arbitration,  or  the  ^^honor  system,'" 
in  the  ways  before  urged,  will  not  lack  sincere  feeling. 
At  the  same  time,  since  the  work  outlined  will  give  grasp 
of  his  subject,  he  will  not  be  unduly  swayed  by  feeling. 
The  ideal  condition  of  the  speaker  demands  strong  feel- 
ing controlled  by  clear  thinking.  But  this  is  the  condi- 
tion which  makes  a  man  strong  in  all  sorts  of  activities, — 
feeling  for  motive  power,  thought  to  control  and  direct. 
The  mental  machine  is  useless  if  either  is  lacking. 

The  hours  immediately  preceding  delivery.    When  a 
speaker  is  to  make  an    effort,"  he  should  take  pains  to  . 
come  upon  the  platform  physically  and  mentally  fit. 
He  should,  if  possible,  have  a  pleasant  restful  day,  Vith 
enough  occupation  to  keep  him  from  worrying.  He 


106 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


should  not  tire  himself  witJi  a  great  deal  of  exercise. 
Well-meaning  friends  and  committeemen  who  may  wish 
to  entertain  with  sight-seeing  or  heavy  dinners,  should 
be  firmly  discouraged.  Each  speaker  should  learn,  by 
observing  his  experience,  what  course  of  action  is  best 
calculated  to  bring  him  on  the  platform  with  energy  on 
tap  and  nerves  at  peace;  and  to  avoid  whatever  in  the 
way  of  eating,  drinking,  or  smoking  is  likely  to  make 
his  mind  sluggish  or  his  voice  husky.  It  is  generally 
best  to  avoid  eating  within  two  hours  of  the  time  of 
speaking. 

Some  will  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  spend  the  time 
immediately  preceding  the  speech,  say  the  last  hour,  in 
special  preparation.  They  may  need  to  bring  themselves 
to  physical  alertness,  to  gain  poise  and  command.  Exer- 
cises will  aid  in  this ;  and  especially  deep -breathing  exer- 
cises will  do  much  to  check  nerv^ousness  (for  they  demand 
good  control  of  the  nerves),  to  relieve  throat  constric- 
tion and  to  help  the  speaker  ^'find  his  voice.''  Such 
exercises  take  a  speaker's  mind  off  his  worries,  if  he  has 
any.  Nervousness  over  speaking  is  not  due  so  much  to 
the  fact  that  public  speaking  is  such  a  fearsome  thing  in 
itself,  as  to  worry  about  it.  It  is  not  desirable,  however, 
that  a  speaker  should  be  as  cool  as  the  proverbial  cucum- 
ber; only  that  the  necessary  nervous  tension  should  not 
be  so  great  as  to  destroy  self-control.  And  here  we  may 
make  another  application  of  the  James-Lange  theory: 
Let  a  man  act  as  if  he  were  courageous,  alert,  at  ease, 
and  he  will  tend  to  feel  so. 

Often  it  is  best  to  keep  one's  mind  off  one's  speech 
during  the  day  it  is  to  be  delivered ;  and  in  particular  to 
avoid  fussing  over  its  structure  and  wording.  At  times, 
it  is  helpful  to  read  and  think  on  the  subject,  ''pumping 
one's  self  full  of  it."    This  presumes,  of  course,  that 


EMOTION 


107 


preparation  has  been  completed.  Shortly  before  speak- 
ing it  may  be  a  relief  to  run  over  the  thought  of  one's 
speech  to  assure  one's  self  that  it  is  clearly  in  mind  and 
to  get  into  its  mood.  The  conclusions  and  purposes  of 
the  speech  should  especially  be  considered  to  guard 
against  yielding  overmuch  to  the  superficial  aspects  of 
the  occasion. 

A  colored  student  preparing  to  take  part  in  a  speaking  contest, 
with  a  speech  which  was  a  plea  for  equal  opportunity,  kept  saying, 
am  not  out  for  the  prize;  I  am  going  to  speak  for  my  people." 
And  he  did,  with  great  force  and  sincerity. 

Obviously  there  will  be  many  circumstances  under 
which  some  of  the  foregoing  suggestions  will  be  useless, 
or  even  unwise.  But  it  is  not  unwise  to  take  note  of  the 
fact  that  just  as  the  athlete  must  not  only  know  his  game, 
but  must  come  on  the  field  in  fit  condition,  so  should  the 
speaker  not  only  know  his  subject,  but  also  come  upon 
the  platform  in  condition  to  do  his  best. 

Emotional  drifting  during  delivery.  By  drifting  is 
meant  continuing  in  one  mood  regardless  of  the  character 
of  the  ideas  expressed.  The  effect  is  as  incongruous  and 
monotonous  as  that  produced  by  a  certain  fiddler  who 
played  always  on  one  string.  Many  a  speaker  needs  to 
guard  against  working  himself  into  a  strained,  excited 
mood  in  which  he  gives  neither  himself  nor  his  audience 
relief.  The  resulting  monotony  is  as  truly  monotony 
as  that  of  one  who  never  warms  up,  or  one  who  speaks 
always  in  a  gently  complaining  mood.  I  have  in  mind  a 
preacher  of  some  note  who,  about  five  minutes  from  the 
end  of  his  sermons,  invariably  drops  into  a  low,  sup- 
posedly solemn  tone  of  exhortation,  and  this  quite  re- 
gardless of  the  character  of  his  concluding  remarks. 
Such  habits  are  easily  acquired,  especially  when  one 
speaks  often  under  the  same  circumstances.    All  such 


108 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tendencies  are  to  be  fought  by  keeping  constantly  alert 
on  the  platform.  It  is  also  well  for  a  speaker  to  watch 
his  speeches  to  see  that  he  does  not  encourage  such  habits 
by  writing  always  in  one  vein.  If  he  extemporizes  much 
the  danger  of  following  habit  is  still  greater;  and  he 
should  either  occasionally  write  a  speech  or  have  a 
stenographer  reveal  to  him  his  tendencies. 

Emotion  of  the  audience.  The  treatment  of  this  topic  will  be 
reserved  for  the  chapters  which  deal  with  interesting,  persuadir:;; 
and  convincing  audiences.  The  emotion  of  the  speaker  will  also 
receive  further  treatment  in  those  chapters. 

Gesture.  It  will  be  well,  at  this  point,  to  take  up  the  first  part 
of  the  chapter  on  gesture  (so  far  as  the  "Second  Stage  of  Gesture 
Tnining").    The  subject  is  closely  related  to  emotion. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE — INTEREST 

Turning  now  to  the  more  definite  consideration  of 
audiences  and  the  adaptation  of  speeches  to  their  needs 
and  capacities,  we  shall,  in  great  part,  be  developing  and 
re-applying  principles  already  familiar  in  the  preceding 
pages.  Plainly  enough,  in  dealing  with  audiences  inter- 
est and  attention  are  of  primary  importance;  yet  you 
may  be  surprised  to  learn  how  constantly  these  are  the 
major  considerations. 

No  classification  of  topics  in  this  discussion  seems 
entirely  satisfactory;  but  we  shall  find  most  helpful  an 
analysis  based  upon  the  speaker's  purposes.  A  sufficient 
reason  is  the  opportunity  this  analysis  offers  for  empha- 
sizing the  fact  that  speakers  have  purposes. 

Importance  of  considering  the  speaker's  purposes. 
Much  poor  work  is  done  because  the  real  purposes  of 
public  speech  are  forgotten,  while  primary  stress  is  placed 
upon  form.  Form  needs  attention,  but  it  can  be  safel}'' 
studied  only  in  subordination  to  purpose.  Stranga  as  it 
may  seem,  the  audience  is  often  forgotten.  The  results 
are  affectation  and  ineffectiveness.  "We  must  think  of 
form  always  as  a  means  to  an  end, — the  impression  de- 
sired upon  the  audience. 

But  the  trouble  does  not  always  arise  from  too. much 
attention  to  form;  it  may  exist  together  with  too  great 
indifference  to  form.  Self-centeredness  is  perhaps  the 
chief  reason  for  indifference  to  audiences.    One  who  has 

109 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


occasion  to  observe  is  often  astounded  at  the  indifference 
of  speakers  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  their  hearers. 
Presumably  these  speakers  have  a  hazy  purpose;  but 
completely  wrapped  up  in  their  own  processes,  intolerant 
of  the  opinions  of  others,  lacking  sufficient  imagination 
for  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  kinds  and  condi- 
tions of  men  and  of  the  motives  which  move  them,  they 
go  their  own  way  unaware  of  response  or  lack  of  response. 
Sometimes  we  say  their  speeches  smell  of  the  lamp,'' 
but  the  trouble  is  not  that  they  have  studied,  but  that  they 
have  failed  to  prepare  with  definite  purposes  and  audi- 
ences in  mind.  If  a  speaker  keeps  clearly  in  mind  that 
he  is  going  before  a  certain  kind  of  audience  to  seek  cer- 
tain results,  the  chances  are  good  that  he  will  make  a 
proper  selection  and  arrangement  of  material,  adopt  a 
style  of  composition  suitable  for  the  platform  and  speak 
in  a  direct  manner. 

The  young  speaker  should  take  this  exhortation  to  mind  his 
audience  very  seriously.  He  is  prone  to  think  that  his  hearers 
will  understand  whatever  he  says,  however  complicated ;  that  they 
have  no  emotions,  and  that  they  will  attend  simply  because  he 
speaks.  He  rarely  considers  the  best  method  of  approach  or  of 
awakening  interest.  From  the  very  first  he  should  treat  his  class, 
if  he  is  in  a  class,  as  a  real  audience,  to  be  interested,  convinced 
and  persuaded ;  and  the  class  should  listen  as  a  real  audience,  not 
as  a  body  of  critics.  The  student  should  also  embrace  opportuni- 
ties to  speak  before  other  audiences,  where  the  thought  of  manner 
will  not  be  so  prominent  and  where  he  may  have  a  more  real  pur- 
pose to  accomplish. 

There  may  be  some  with  an  almost  instinctive  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  audiences.  These,  if  sufficiently  endowed  otherwise,  are 
the  *'born  orators."  But  most  of  us  need  to  work  out  of  our  em- 
barrassment, our  self-centeredness  and  our  false  notions,  till  there 
some  day  comes  to  us  a  sense  of  what  speaking  really  means.  Then 
by  study  of  human  nature  and  by  practice,  we  may  learn  to  in- 
fluence audiences.  If  through  plenitude  of  endowment,  persistent 
labor  and  right  opportunity,  we  come  to  master  audiences,  we'shall 
be  orators. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


111 


What  the  speaker's  purposes  are.  I  shall  consider  the 
speaker's  purposes  to  be:  1.  To  interest,  2.  To  make 
clear,  3.  To  induce  'belief,  4.  To  influence  conduct.  Now 
any  one  of  these  purposes  may  be  a  speaker's  final  object 
on  a  given  occasion ;  or  may  be  a  subsidiary  purpose,  a 
means  to  another  end.  Thus  interest  and  clearness  must 
be  sought  in  any  speech.  In  many  instances  belief  must 
be  won  before  conduct  can  be  affected,  and  we  shall  find 
that  in  most  cases  the  processes  by  which  conduct  is  af-| 
fected  must  be  employed  before  belief  is  established. 
Again,  exposition  and  argument  may  be  employed  to  in- 
terest- 
Interesting  an  audience.  It  seems  strange  that  there 
is  need  of  putting  stress  upon  the  necessity  of  interesting 
our  audiences;  yet  we  well  know  how  common  it  is  in 
conversation  to  talk  on  about  our  affairs,  our  ideas,  our 
stupid  adventures,  our  smart  children,  calmly  ignoring 
the  yawns  of  our  hearers.  This  may  explain  why  a  stu- 
dent speaker  will  expound  in  detail  before  a  class  of 
juniors  the  peculiar  advantages  accruing  to  freshmen 
from  subscribing  to  the  college  daily. 

An  audience  always  holds  it  a  natural  right  to  be  inter- 
ested ;  often  it  asks  nothing  more.  The  speaker  himself 
may  at  times  have  no  purpose  beyond  interesting;  that 
is,  entertainment.^  More  often  the  speaker  has  a  pur- 
pose beyond  this;  but  the  demand  for  interest  he  must 
satisfy,  for  he  must  have  attention.  A  ^'polite  hearing" 
is  rarely  genuine ;  and  very  few  members  of  the  average 
audience  will  listen  by  sheer  will  power,  nor  is  it  desir- 

1  Entertainment  has  been  made  one  of  the  general  ends,  and  is  an 
end  proper  enough.  Phillips,  who  makes  this  classification  {Effec- 
tive Speaking,  p.  63),  treats  it  only  with  the  "factoid  of  interesting- 
ness."  Interest  is,  of  course,  a  much  larger  thing  than  entertain- 
ment. When  we  are  interested  in  a  pleasant  way,  with  no  serious 
urpose  impressed  upon  us,  we  say  we  are  entertained ;  but  we  may 
e  interested  iu  the  most  serious,  even  unpleasant,  things. 


112 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


able  that  they  should.  Applying  Herbert  Spencer's 
principle,  '  ^  economy  of  attention, ' '  a  speaker  should  aim 
to  hold  his  hearers  with  a  minimum  of  effort  on  their 
part ;  for  whatever  energy  goes  into  mere  effort  to  attend 
is  lost  to  consideration  of  the  subject-matter. 

Another  reason  for  seeking  to  interest  is  that  few  speakers  are 
able  to  go  energetically  through  a  speech  without  evidences  of  re- 
sponse from  their  audience.  Without  such  evidence  one  feels  a 
great  load  on  his  spirits.  It  is  sometimes  worth  while  to  take 
pains  to  interest  a  single  person  in  order  to  have  his  sympathetic 
following;  but  unless  a  speaker  has  a  majority  of  his  audience  fol- 
lowing with  easy  attention,  he  cannot  often  do  well.  When  prac- 
tically the  whole  audience  listens  with  keen  interest  he  is  drawn 
out  in  a  wonderful  way.    Then  he  has  "liberty." 

There  are  times  when  the  speaker  has  the  advantage  of 
an  aroused  interest  in  his  audience.  There  are  times 
when  he  can  rely  on  this  interest,  even  abuse  it :  but  such 
times  are  rare,  and  even  strong  initial  interest  is  usually 
easily  lost.  I  have  seen  2000  eager  listeners,  come  to- 
gether to  hear  a  potential  presidential  candidate,  bored 
into  helpless  irritation  by  an  inept  address.  The  young 
speaker  will  find  few  occasions  indeed  w^hen  he  can  safely 
ignore  the  means  of  interesting. 

The  speaker  standing  before  his  audience  faces  a  very 
practical  problem:  How  can  he  gain  and  hold  atten- 
tion? No  matter  how  noble  his  purpose,  how  splendid 
his  rhetoric,  how  sound  his  arguments,  if  he  is  not  listened 
to.  There  they  sit,  his  potential  hearers;  presumably 
most  of  them  are  willing  to  be  interested:  but  unless 
they  are  interested,  they  will  think  of  their  own  affairs, 
isink  into  bored  endurance,  or  become  restless.  The 
speaker  must  grip  their  attention,  right  at  the  start,  and 
he  must  hold  it. 

How  can  attention  be  won  ?  In  the  first  place,  it  does 
little  good  to  tell  one's  audience  that  the  theme  is  inter- 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  113 


esting.  Young  speakers  are  constantly  defending  their 
dull  efforts  with,  ' '  They  ought  to  be  interested  in  that ' ' ; 
but  the  question  remains,  Are  they  interested  ?  Is  it  only 
the  speaker  of  high  prestige  with  his  audience  who  can 
depend  upon  the  assertion  of  interest,  even  for  initial 
attention. 

We  see  at  once  that  the  question,  What  does  interest 
audiences,  is  too  complicated  for  brief  and  final  answer. 
We  can,  nevertheless,  establish  a  few  principles  and  be- 
come intelligent  in  applying  them  to  different  situations. 
The  most  obvious  suggestion  is  that  we  should  have  some- 
thing to  say  worth  saying;  something  not  necessarily  of 
vital  importance,  but  at  least  worth  considering  for  a 
few  moments.  The  occasions  are  but  few  when  audi- 
ences are  willing  to  listen  to  sheer  nonsense. 

Fundamental  interests.  Certain  interests  common  to 
most  men,  may  be  noted.  When  we  speak  of  a  man's 
interests  we  mean  those  things  to  which  he  gives  his  time, 
thought  and  labor ;  not  merely  those  things  directly  nec- 
essary to  existence  and  success,  but  also  those  which  give 
him  pleasure,  or  otherwise  enlist  his  emotions.  We  put 
first  life  and  health.  The  vast  deal  of  matter  printed 
nowadays  on  health  presumably  supplies  a  demand.  But 
it  is  probable  that  men  in  general  are  more  willing  to  give 
attention  to  the  acquirement  of  property  than  to  prolong- 
ing life.  The  pocket-book  interest  is  one  of  the  surest  to 
which  a  theme  can  be  linked.  This  interest  is  not  limited 
to  one's  own  pocket-book,  but  extends  to  all  business. 
Witness  the  number  of  business  stories  in  popular  peri- 
odicals. 

Men  generally  are  interested  in  the  means  of  acquiring 
power  and  reputation.  But  there  are  some  who  are  still 
more  Interested  in  what  pertains  to  honor,  to  social  ivel- 
fare,  to  the  good  of  country  and  to  righteousness,  and  to 


114 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


other  so-called  sentimenis.  Again,  men  are  interested  in 
what  touches  their  affections,  as  the  education  of  their 
children.  They  are  interested  in  all  that  gives  them 
pleasure,  as  sports,  music,  drama,  literature.  In  short, 
men  are  interested  in  whatever  they  are  interested  in, 
whatever  arouses  emotion;  and  the  most  valuable  sug- 
gestion is  one  which  will  grow  increasingly  familiar; 
study  human  nature,  study  your  audience.  The  chief 
use  of  such  an  incomplete  list  as  the  above,  is  to  impress 
upon  the  self -centered  speaker  the  truth  that  men  are 
many-sided  in  their  interests.^ 

The  human  interest^  Carlyle  says:  *'Man  is  peren- 
nially interesting  to  man ;  nay,  if  we  look  strictly  to  it, 
there  is  nothing  else  interesting."  Terence,  the  old 
Roman  playwright,  brought  forth  thunderous  applause 
with  his  line,  *'I  am  a  man,  and  all  human  affairs  are  of 
interest  to  me. ' '  The  interest  of  humanity  pervades,  of 
course,  history,  fiction,  drama,  social  science,  and  many 
another  interest ;  but  still  it  is  well  to  note  that  there  is  a 
strong  interest  in  just  folks," — men,  women,  children 
and  babies.  Personality,  is  always  jnteresting.  So  a 
speaker  may  find  it  of  advantage  to  throw  his  material 
into  terms  of  persons,  persons  with  names  and  character- 
istics. Hitch  your  cause  to  the  man  who  represents  it. 
A  newspaper  man  of  wide  opportunity  for  observation, 
recently  declared  that  the  public  is  never  interested  in 
reform,  but  in  its  heroes  and  especially  in  its  villains. 
Elihu  Root  has  said,  *  *  It  seems  sometimes  as  if  our  people 
were  interested  in  nothing  but  personalities,  and  that  we 
wanted  a  government  of  men  and  not  a  government  of 
laws." 

Consideration  of  these  fundamental  interests  does  not . 

1  Tliose  familiar  with  Phillips*  Effective  Speaking  will  see  that  ll 
have  drawn  here  upon  his  Impelling  Motives.  I 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


115 


carry  us  far ;  for  we  see  that  what  will,  in  a  given  case,  be 
interesting,  will  depend  much  upon  audience  and  occa- 
sion and  how  and  by  whom  the  matter  is  presented. 

Differences  in  groups.  No  one  is  likely  to  overlook  the 
fact  that  a  group  of  farmers  may  be  interested  in  topics 
very  dull  to  laboring  men,  and  that  both  farmers  and 
laborers  may  be  interested  in  themes  which  will  not  touch 
a  body  of  artists;  but  there  are  less  noticeable  diver- 
gencies which  are  no  less  important.  One  may  sometimes 
hear  city  men  talking  to  farmers  on  the  assumption  that 
all  farmers  are  alike ;  yet  fruit  farmers  may  take  no  more 
interest  than  do  artists  in  the  tariff  on  wool.  Speakers 
coming  to  our  universities  may  be  heard  making  painful 
efforts  at  classical  allusions  before  engineering  colleges. 
The  obvious  means  of  safety  is  to  know  your  audience,  its 
interests,  its  information  and  its  habits  of  thought. 

I  referred  just  now  to  a  presidential  possibility  who  bored  an 
eager  audience.  We  had  gone  to  hear  him  because  we  wished  to 
know  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  what  his  opinions  and  his 
tendencies  were.  He  chose  to  read  to  us  a  dry,  impersonal  survey 
of  the  origins  of  the  common  law,  without  an  attempt  to  link  this 
history  to  the  present  day.  It  was,  he  explained,  a  paper  he  had 
prepared  for  a  law  school  lecture.  It  may  have  been  adapted  to 
a  convention  of  legal  historians. 

One  reason  for  Mr.  Roosevelt's  success  with  audiences  lies  in 
his  varied  career,  as  son  of  an  old  New  York  family,  Harvard 
student,  politician,  cowboy,  historian,  naturalist,  hunter,  traveler, 
rough  rider,  police  commissioner,  president  and  one  forgets  what 
else, — all  giving  him  intimate  knowledge  of  many  kinds  of  peo- 
ple, of  how  they  think,  what  their  associations  are,  and  what  al-  '  1 
lusions  and  illustrations  will  appeal  to  them. 

^  Variations  of  the  same  group.  At  one  time  an  audience 
of  laboring  men  may  be  chiefly  interested  in  a  great  rail- 
way siirike,  again  in  the  doings  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  again  in 
socialism,  or  the  open  shop.  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest 
that  a  speaker  should  always  address  his  hearers  on  their 


116 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


supreme  interest  of  the  moment ;  but  only  that  he  should 
be  alert  to  the  possibilities  arising  from  special  occasions 
and  occurrences.  A  group  may  have  also  great  varia- 
tions of  mood}  A  body  of  economists  in  convention  as- 
sembled may  in  the  morning  wish  to  hear  discussions  of 
taxation ;  in  the  evening  at  a  banquet  they  may  resent  a 
heavy  discussion.  Ministers  do  not  always  wish  to  think 
of  their  duties;  and  college  students  may  at  times  wish 
to  hear  of  something  other  than  athletics.  Attention  is 
caught  by  objects  and  ideas  congruous  with  our  present 
mood,  be  it  sad,  gay,  business-like,  critical,  or  what  not . 

The  speaker's  relation  to  audience,  occasion  and  theme. 
The  audience  may  wish  to  hear  a  speaker  upon  a  certain 
^^itheme  because  of  some  special  advantage  he  possesses,  as 
having  taken  part  in  the  movement  he  discusses.  Almost 
any  audience  would  like  to  hear  Peary  or  Amundsen  de- 
scribe their  polar  explorations,  and  yet  might  be  greatly 
bored  to  hear  one  with  no  record  of  achievement  speaking 
on  the  same  subject,  although  he  were  well  informed  and 
actually  giving  a  better  lecture.  Cornellians  would  not 
care  to  hear  a  freshman  speak  on  the  beginnings  of  the 
University ;  but  they  would  like  very  much  to  hear  Cor- 
neirs  first  president,  Andrew  D.  White,  tell  of  events  of 
which  he  might  use  the  words  of  iEneas,  **A11  of  which 
I  saw  and  part  of  which  I  was. ' ' 

A  speaker  should  beware  of  attempting  to  discuss  a 
subject  of  which  he  has  little  knowledge  before  a  body  of 
experts.    If  you  have  to  give  an  address  of  welcome  to  a 

1  Those  who  wish  a  scientific  starting  point  for  study  in  iy  lake 
this  from  Pillsbiiry,  Attention,  p.  52:  "The  conditions  (>i'  lU  act 
of  attention  are  to  be  found  in  the  present  environment  ( H'^'  tive 
conditions)  and  in  tlie  past  experiences  of  the  individual  (  -i  hjtvtive 
conditions).  The  main  objective  conditions  are  the  intcn  i<\,  ex- 
tent, and  (Juration  of  the  stimulus.  The  subjective  condi'  ^  ir-  are 
to  be  found  in  the  idea  in  the  mind  at  the  time,  in  the  m- '  t.!  the 
moment,  the  education,  previous  social  environment,  e^r  '  i>'dity 
of  the  individual.** 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  117 

convention  of  specialists,  keep  on  safe  ground.  Do  not 
think  to  make  a  hit  by  reading  up  in  an  encyclopedia. 
Probably  what  you  read  is  to  them  exploded  doctrine ;  at 
any  rate  you  are  sure  to  expose  your  ignorance.  Painful 
also  are  those  attempts  to  retail  the  history  of  a  town  to 
its  inhabitants.  Even  if  the  speaker  knows  the  facts 
better  than  the  inhabitants,  still  they  may  not  wish  to 
hear  them  from  a  stranger,  though  they  may  relish  refer- 
ences which  show  that  the  speaker  knows  something  of 
their  history.  In  any  case,  the  speaker  does  well  to  ask 
himself  whether  he  is  the  right  person  to  present  the  pro- 
posed topic,  not  only  from  the  standpoint  of  preparation, 
but  also  from  that  of  personal  acceptability.  A  labor 
audience  may  not  think  you  qualified  to  speak  on  the 
closed  shop,  no  matter  how  much  preparation  you  have ; 
and  may  even  be  prejudiced  against  hearing  you,  if,  for 
example,  they  suspect  you  of  hostility  to  unionism. 

The  age  of  a  speaker  is  often  important  in  the  minds  of 
his  audience.  ^^The  idea  of  that  young  thing  trying  to 
tell  us  how  to  bring  up  our  children ! ' '  exclaim  indignant 
matrons  when  a  freshly  ordained  preacher  essays  this 
theme.  There  is  a  pride  in  knowing  one's  own  affairs,  ot 
the  affairs  of  one's  time,  which  may  blind  people  to  actual 
wisdom  on  the  part  of  a  speaker. 

Ringwalt  i  furnishes  the  following  suggestive  comment  and  in- 
cident : 

"A  student  may  be  better  informed  on  a  public  question  than  a 
congressman,  but  the  latter  will  get  the  invitation  to  speak ;  what 
a  man  may  be  expected  to  know  weighs  heavily.  A  young  student 
who  had  gained  considerable  reputation  as  a  speaker,  was  asked, 
with  a  number  of  distinguished  men,  to  respond  to  a  toast  of  his 

1  own  selection  at  a  banquet  held  on  the  birthday  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. Had  he  chosen  to  speak  on  Lincoln's  political  career,  he 
would  have  })een  listened  to  with  courtesy,  but,  by  men  who  knew 
from  experience  the  facts  he  related  from  histories,  hardly  with 
interest.    He  chose  rather  as  his  subject,  'Lincoln  as  a  blaster  of 

j    English  Style,'  and  scored  the  chief  success  of  the  evening.  This 

1  Modern  American  Oratory ^  p.  38, 


118 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


was  the  one  theme  about  which  he  not  only  knew  more  than  his 
hearers,  but  about  which  they  all  realized  he  could  know  more." 

A  student  friend  of  mine  was  asked  to  address  the  Grand  Army 
Post  in  his  home  village  on  Memorial  Day.  I  will  leave  to  you 
the  questions :  What  should  have  been  his  theme,  and  how  should 
he  have  treated  it? 

The  general  audience.  So  far  we  have  considered  spe- 
cial audiences,  homopreneous  groups.  The  interests  of 
the  general  audience  are  less  dependable.  The  more 
heterogeneous  an  audience,  the  more  difficult  to  control 
and  to  ''fuse''  its  members  into  one  mood. 

The  jpB^SehPf,  for  e^gmnle.  in  his  efforts  to  reveal  the  relation 
of  religion  to  human  needs,  has  a  weekly  problem  hardly  to  be 
solved.  Before  him  are  children  of  very  limited  experience  and 
understanding;  people  of  the  age  of  reliance  on  one's  own  strength, 
and  those  who  have  reached  the  stage  where  they  feel  peculiarly 
the  need  of  support  and  consolation.  Some  preachers  feel  so 
keenly  the  disadvantage  of  an  uninterested  and  restless  element 
in  the  congregation,  that  they  attempt  a  partial  solution  by  preach- 
ing first  a  brief  sermon  to  the  children,  who  are  then  free  to  go 
home. 

To  appeal  to  each  element  of  a  mixed  audience  in  turn 
makes  sustained  interest  on  the  part  of  all  improbable; 
yet  this  is  sometimes  the  only  feasible  method.  Varied 
illustrations  and  applications  may  be  needed  to  catch  the 
interest,  now  of  the  business  man,  now  of  the  women, 
now  of  the  factory  workers ;  but  all  that  is  said  should  be 
at  least  intelligible  to  the  great  majority  of  those  present, 
and  no  considerable  time  should  pass  in  which  any  group 
is  given  nothing  of  interest.  Sometimes  a  speaker  of 
great  prestige  may  venture  to  say  frankly,  ' '  Now  I  wish 
the  rest  of  you  to  wait  while  I  talk  to  these  merchants"; 
but  unless  the  other  groups  can  have  some  sympathetic 
interest  in  this  special  discussion,  they  will  soon  grow 
restless.  And  if  the  speaker  be  ''talking  over  the  heads" 
of  any  group,  resentment  may  be  aroused.    If  a  speaker 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


119 


in  a  college  town  especially  addressed  himself  to  the 
faculty  members  present,  in  a  way  which  presumed  them 
to  be  of  superior  intelligence,  he  might  easily  arouse  the 
old  town-and-gown  hostility. 

Indefiniteness  is  not  necessary.  Though  the  appeal  to 
the  interest  of  a  general  audience  must  at  times  be  very 
broad,  still  it  need  not  be  indefinite.  Though  one  has  an 
audience  composed  of  scientists,  workingmen,  teachers, 
farmers,  philosophers  and  social  workers,  still  all  men  are 
alike  in  many  ways,  and  have  in  one  way  or  another  the 
same  needs  and  the  same  human  experiences,  just  as  all 
catch  the  measles.  *'The  Colonel's  lady  and  Judy 
0 'Grady  are  sisters,  under  their  skins.''  The  orator 
understands  and  shares  the  common  human  interests, 
and  under  all  circumstances  finds  a  common  ground  of 
interest  and  sympathy. 

The  complaint  is  sometimes  made  that  speakers  indulge  too 
much  in  commonplace  and  platitude.  The  charge  is  true,  just  as  it 
is  true  of  those  who  write  and  converse.  But  critics  should  not 
be  too  strict,  in  view  of  the  necessity  of  finding  a  meeting  place 
for  all  sorts  of  people.  At  the  same  time,  speakers  do  well  to  re- 
lieve necessary  commonplaces  with  freshness  of  form. 

In  many  cases,  even  with  the  most  heterogeneous  audi- 
ence, no  preliminary  search  for  a  common  ground  is 
needed;  for  all  may  be  already  interested  in  the  same 
political  issue,  the  same  application  of  a  scientific  discov- 
ery, the  same  story  of  heroism,  the  same  sanitary  regu- 
lation, or  the  same  high  cost  of  living.  I  have  seen  an 
audience  as  heterogeneous  as  that  suggested  above,  all 
fused  into  one  splendid  enthusiasm  for  the  support  of 
Governor  Hughes  of  New  York,  in  his  demand  that  the 
state  constitution  should  be  enforced  against  race-track 
gambling. 

Most  of  the  members  of  the  usual  audience  have  much 


120 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


in  common  in  origin,  tradition,  prejudice,  religion,  ex- 
perience, association,  politics,  and  general  information. 
They  live  in  the  same  community,  or  have  been  brought 
together  by  common  interests,  or  by  congeniality.  They 
can  be  expected  to  recognize  certain  allusions,  to  think  at 
a  certain  rate,  to  know  certain  facts,  and  to  respond  to 
certain  appeals.  One  can  hardly  hope  to  reach  every 
member  of  an  audience.  How  far  the  attempt  should 
be  carried,  to  what  level  in  one's  audience  and  to  how 
many  elements  a  speech  should  be  addressed,  are  ques- 
tions that  cannot  be  answered  except  with  reference  to 
particular  cases. 

We  turn  now  to  consider  means  of  interesting  which 
are  more  or  less  applicable  to  all  audiences. 

Derived  interest.  If  the  principle  is  not  fresh  in  your 
mind,  you  should  turn  back  to  Chapters  III  and  IV,  and 
especially  you  should  re-read  the  quotation  from  James 
at  p.  54.  Just  as  teachers  no  longer  begin  geography 
with  a  discussion  of  the  planetary  system  and  gradually 
approach  the  child's  place  in  it,  but  begin  with  phe- 
nomena already  familiar  to  him,  the  towns,  streams  and 
islands  he  knovv^s;  so  speakers  should  start  with  that 
phase  of  their  subject  already  known  and  interesting  to 
their  hearers,  at  the  point  where  they  '*have  something 
to  attend  with."  If  the  topic  does  not  relate  itself  di- 
rectly to  the  existing  interests  of  your  audience,  then 
connecting  links  must  be  supplied.  When  this  is  imprac- 
ticable, the  topic  is  impracticable.  It  may  be  said,  fur- 
ther, that  unless  a  speaker  has  a  strong  reason  for  taking 
a  topic  far  removed  from  the  interests  of  his  audience, 
the  fact  that  he  must  t^^ke  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
time  for  establishing  a  derived  interest,  will  usually  be  a 
good  reason  for  choosing  another  topic. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


121 


The  illustration  in  Chapter  IV  of  a  man  going  deliberately  to 
work  to  interest  himself  in  Greek  archeology  might  easily  be 
turned  into  a  problem  in  interesting  an  audience.  Work  this  out : 
Suppose  your  task  were  to  interest  a  group  of  business  men  in 
excavations  on  the  sites  of  Egyptian  cities.  Could  you  in  any 
way  utilize  the  religious  interest?  Where  would  you  begin  with 
the  same  group  in  interesting  them  in  the  peace  movement? 

Problems  of  deriving  interest  arise  every  day  in  a  public  speak- 
ing class.  If  one  is  talking  of,  W^hat  is  the  matter  with  the  foot- 
ball team?  no  problem  arises,  but  to  use  that  sort  of  topic  all 
the  time  proves  limiting.  A  student  of  agriculture  had  some  good 
ideas  on  the  common  complaint  that  too  much  time  is  spent  upon 
teaching  the  theory  of  agriculture,  and  too  little  upon  practical 
applications.  TSvo-thirds  of  the  class,  not  being  students  in  agri- 
culture, evinced  little  interest.  The  speaker  might  have  gained 
general  interest  by  first  taking  the  question  up  as  one  that  arises 
in  all  courses,  law,  engineering,  etc.,  and  then  proceeded  to  illus- 
trate with  the  course  he  knew  most  about.  Another  student  of 
the  same  college  wished  to  speak  on  the  Grange ;  but  when  asked 
the  standard  question.  How  will  you  interest  all  in  that?  he  gave 
up.  Yet  there  are  phases  of  th^  Grange  which  would  interest 
most  of  us;  the  cooperative  principle,  for  example,  or  the  Grange 
in  politics.  Another  wished  to  speak  upon  the  growing  of  apples. 
He  might  have  taken  up  the  enormous  business  of  marketing  ap- 
ples, for  business  interests  most  students  to-day ;  but  as  he  wished 
to  take  the  technical  phases,  such  as  the  composition  of  sprays, 
it  did  not  seem  worth  while  to  make  the  far-fetched  connection. 

Law  students  may  fail  to  detach  themselves  from  the  law  school 
atmosphere ;  but  one  w^ho  wished  to  practise  legal  discussion  suc- 
ceeded in  making  his  talk  both  interesting  and  tangible  by  using 
as  a  basis  rooming  contracts,  a  burning  issue  at  the  time.  A 
student  in  architecture,  speaking  in  a  class  including  no  others 
from  his  college,  kept  up  interest  in  his  favorite  theme  by  select- 
ing illustrations  from  the  campus  buildings.  The  student  of  chem- 
istry who  started  with  the  keen  interest  in  automobiles  carried 
us  far  into  a  discussion  of  substitutes  for  gasoline.  Even  the 
hackneyed  subject  of  capital  punishment  may  get  a  new  lease  of 
life  from  the  case  of  some  noted  criminal  about  to  be  executed. 

Ways  of  deriving  interest.  Sometimes  the  existing  in- 
terests of  your  Hearers  may  be  utilized  by  starting  with 
one  of  these  and  leading  into  the  desired  topic,  as  by 
beginning  with  the  present  war  and  leading  to  interna- 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tional  law,  assuming  that  to  be  the  topic  in  which  you 
wish  to  arouse  interest;  sometimes  by, beginning  with  a 
phase  of  one's  topic  which  quickly  shows  its  relation  to 
an  existing  interest,  as  by  taking  a  question  of  interna- 
tional law  which  is  closely  related  to  the  war,  e.  g., 
blockades;  and  again,  by  one's  selection  of  illustrations. 
By  whatever  method  you  choose  to  proceed,  do  not  ask 
your  audience  to  listen  long  without  seeing  how  y6ur 
topic  is  related  to  something  they  consider  interesting; 
and  as  you  proceed  you  should  continue  to  link  the  new 
matter  to  that  already  made  interesting,  **so  that  the 
interest,  being  shed  along  from  point  to  point,  finally 
suffuses  the  entire  system  of  objects  of  thought."  You 
may  be  able,  also,  to  reach  out,  at  various  stages,  and 
connect  your  ideas  with  other  interests  than  those  first 
touched.  It  is  conceivable  that  in  a  single  short  speech, 
with  perfect  unity,  you  might  enlist  the  interest  which 
your  hearers  possess  in  athletics,  in  education,  in  tem- 
perance and  in  religion ;  and  the  fusion  of  these  interests 
would  make  a  strong  whole.  One  may  think  of  each  of 
these  interests  as  throwing  a  rope  to  assist  in  mooring 
the  new  subject. 

Interest  derived  through  illustrations.  Examples  of 
the  common  device  of  using  illustrations  which  come 
peculiarly  within  the  experience  of  one's  audience,  were 
given  in  the  comments  on  class  speeches  above.  A  stump 
speaker  addressing  now  farmers,  now  railroad  men,  now 
salesmen,  will  usually  try  to  vary  his  illustrations  to  fit 
each  group.  However,  we  should  not  suppose  that  any 
class  of  people  is  interested  only  in  its  own  specialties. 
Another  warning  is  in  order :  do  not  try  to  draw  illustra- 
tions from  any  field  unless  you  are  sure  of  your  ground. 
Railroad  men  may  like  to  hear  you  draw  illustrations 
from  their  work,  if  you  can  do  so  easily  and  naturally ; 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  123 


but  they  will  be  amused  or  bored  by  a  strained  attempt. 
Of  a  preacher  who  tried  to  talk  to  an  audience  of  sailors 
in  their  own  terms,  one  of  his  hearers  said  :  There  are 
two  things  he  doesn't  understand,  navigation  and  re- 
ligion." 

Novelty  and  the  interest  of  audiences.  After  the  dis- 
cussion in  Chapter  III  you  will  readily  understand  that 
while  new  things  and  new  ideas  are  a  source  of  interest, 
the  strongest  and  most  sustained  interest  arises  from  the 
union  of  old  with  new.  Read  again  with  care  the  quota- 
tion from  Royce  on  p.  57  of  this  text,  and  that  from 
James  on  p.  58.  ''The  old  in  the  new  is  what  claims 
attention. ' '  "When  we  present  new  ideas  to  an  audience 
we  should  present  them  in  such  a  way  that  their  relation 
to  familiar  things  is  apparent,  so  that  they  may  be  com- 
pared or  identified,  or  so  that  the  relation  of  cause  and 
effect  or  some  other  relation  is  evident;  and  when  we 
present  old  matter  we  should  give  it  new  aspects,  rela- 
tions and  applications. 

A  group  of  housewives  may  be  interested  in  hearing  an  explana- 
tion of  the  familiar  phenomenon  of  the  rising  of  bread.  I  was 
much  interested  in  learning  from  the  speech  of  a  student  of  archi- 
tecture of  the  considerable  accomplishment  of  Thomas  Jefferson  as 
an  architect ;  while  the  student  derived  an  interest  in  the  statesman 
who  was  also  an  artist. 

Travel  lectures  have  great  vogue  on  Lyceum  and  Chautauqua 
platforms.  They  furnish  a  pleasant  opportunity  for  comparing 
and  contrasting,  and  discovering  the  familiar  in  the  seemingly  un- 
familiar. "What  an  odd  way  to  do  !'*  we  hear  a  listener  say :  that 
is,  how  different  from  our  way  of  doing  the  same  thing.  "What 
a  queer-looking  place  in  that  picture !  Why,  it 's  a  kind  of  store, 
isn't  it?  •  How  interesting!"  The  following  sentence,  written  of 
an  Eastern  country,  illustrates  the  force  of  contrast  with  the  fa- 
miliar : 

"It  is  a  country  where  the  roses  have  no  fragrance,  and  women 
no  petticoats;  .  .  .  where  the  roads  bear  no  vehicles,  and  the 
ships  have  no  keels ;  where  old  men  fly  kites,  .  .  .  and  the  sign 
of  being  puzzled  is  to  scratch  the  heel." 


124 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  familiar-  While  the  absolutely  familiar  is  said  to 
be  uninteresting,  we  should  note  that  the  very  familiar  is 
at  times  welcomed.  Do  we  not  love  old  songs  and  old 
stories?  The  question  was  recently  asked,  Why  are  so 
maiiy  jokes  made  reflecting  upon  stenographers?  and 
Harper's  Weekly  replied,  ^'The  world  loves  familiar  jokes 
and  familiar  effects."  At  any  rate,  while  I  should  be 
very  sorry  to  encourage  triteness,  we  must  recognize  the 
fact  that  there  are  times  when  people  like  to  hear  familiar 
ideas,  and  also  like  them  put  in  a  familiar  way.  Indeed, 
they  may  object  to  a  departure  from  the  old  way,  as 
children  hold  their  entertainers  to  the  very  words  of  oft 
repeated  stories.  We  know  that  partisan  audiences  love 
to  gather  on  Jackson's  birthday  to  hear  again  the  familiar 
phrases  in  praise  of  party  and  party  heroes.  Gatherings 
of  old  soldiers  never  weary  of  their  familiar  themes  and 
eulogies.  It  is  said  that  the  veterans  from  North  and 
South  at  the  great  gathering  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg  in 
1913,  did  not  take  kindly  President  Wilson's  attempt  to 
talk  to  them  of  the  duties  of  the  present.  Their  minds 
were  full  of  the  past. 

What  is  triteness  ?  In  apparent  conflict  with  the  above 
is  the  fact  that  no  complaint  is  more  common  or  (iamn^ng 
than  that  a  speech  was  trite,  that  its  matter  was  stale,  or 
wornout  with  much  repeating.  The  complaint  is  evi- 
dently a  demand  for  novelty.  Plainly  enough,  it  be- 
hooves a  speaker  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  triteness. 
I  The  reconciliation  of  this  criticism  with  the  liking  for 
the  familiar  may  be  sought,  first,  in  the  kind  of  subject 
used  in  a  given  case.  It  may  not  have  been  one  consid- 
ered important  by  the  fault-finder.  Some  one  has  well 
said,  **No  truth  ever  is  or  can  be  trite  to  one  who  uses 
it.''  Old  problems  still  pressing  for  solution  do  not  be- 
come trite,  though  we  may  temporarily  weary  of  them. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  125 


The  old,  old  negro  problem  can  still  be  depended  upon 
for  an  interesting  discussion  in  my  classes.  Again,  the 
subject  may  not  have  been  one  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the 
audience.  We  may  note  that  the  themes  which  people 
love  to  hear  about  in  the  old  way  are  those  on  which  they 
have  warm  convictions  and  strongly  emotional  associa- 
tions.  Secondly^  much  depends  upon  the  occasion.  The 
old  recital  is  especially  welcomed  at  gatherings  which 
awaken  old  and  emotional  associations.  Then  the  old  is 
congruous  with  the  hearer's  mood.  The  old  soldiers 
gathered  at  Gettysburg  are  very  different  from  the  same 
men  at  home,  with  business  uppermost  in  their  minds. 
Political  and  religious  meetings  also  arouse  emotional 
associations  and  remove  the  critical  spirit.  As  a  student, 
summing  up  our  discussion  of  this  topic,  once  put  it, 
''Triteness  is  saying  the  old  thing  in  the  old  way,  at  the 
!L^2£S.J^^^^~^^^  tru¥,T]iough  not  all  the  truth. 

Thirdly,  the  treatment  of  the  old  topic  may  have  been 
dull,  confused,  or  inferior  to  what  the  audience  was  ac- 
customed to.  To  fall  below  the  expectation  of  the  audi- 
ence, based  on  memory  of  other  speakers,  is  especially 
unfortunate.  Fourthly,  much  depends  upon  the  pre- 
sumption with  which  old  matter  is  presented.  If  old 
information  is  presented  as  new,  or  old  arguments  are 
made  as  arguments  which  the  audience  has  not  before  un- 
derstood, resentment  may  be  provoked.  ''Does  he  think 
we  don't  know  that?"  is  sometimes  heard. 

There  are  manj^  young  speakers  who  offend  in  this  way,  always 
^'carrying  coals  to  Newcastle."  Students  will  tell  their  classmates 
how  the  campus  is  arranged  and  the  most  obvious  faults  of  the 
old  gymnasium.  The  explanation  seems  to  be  that  they  have  not 
realized  what  speech-making  is,  and  are  still  in  the  essay  habit, 
writing  for  instructors  who  have  no  right  to  be  interested.  I  have 
heard  the  commonplaces  about  our  gymnasium  so  many  times  that, 
given  the  start,  I  know  the  rest.    This  speech  and  several  others 


126 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


af  its  kind  simply  embody  the  campus  talk,  which  any  sophomore 
can  give  without  preparation.  Yet  I  have  heard  a  speech  on  that 
same  gymnasium  and  its  same  deficiencies,  which  combined  so 
much  new  information  and  such  an  individual  point  of  view  with 
the  old  ideas,  that  it  was  genuinely  interesting.  There  is  another 
kind  of  student  speaker,  somewhat  of  a  thinker  and  scholar,  who 
tries  to  give  us  just  as  much  new  matter  as  possible,  quite  regard- 
less of  the  state  of  our  interest  and  understanding. 

Audiences  differ  in  their  relish  for  novelty,  because 
some  are  more  conservative  than  others  in  their  thinking. 
Some  like  to  look  back  and  dwell  upon  what  we  owe  the 
past;  they  glory  in  Webster's  speeches  at  Bunker  Hill 
and  Plymouth  Rock;  while  others  think  those  speeches 
tiresome  commonplaces,  and  find  their  interest  in  what  is 
and  what  is  to  be.  Some  love  old  ideas  just  because  they 
are  old,  as  they  love  old  furniture ;  others  love  the  new 
because  it  is  new,  as  they  love  new  words  and  new  fash- 
ions. There  are  tories  and  radicals  of  thought.  The  dif- 
ference may  arise  not  only  from  temperament,  but  also 
from  training.  A  body  of  scholars,  while  insisting  upon 
the  recognition  of  established  truths  and  approved  modes 
of  thought,  may  still  delight  in  ventures  into  the  fields  of 
speculation ;  they  gladly  seek  new  truth  for  its  own  sake. 
A  body  of  '  *  advanced  thinkers, ' '  generally  lacking  sound 
training,  may  insist  not  at  all  upon  the  recognition  of 
familiar  landmarks,  and  take  with  enthusiasm  the  boldest 
flights  into  the  uncharted  realms  of  fancy.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  are  unaccustomed  to  thinking  and  who 
are  guided  by  a  few  inherited  beliefs,  are  subject  to 
mental  homesickness  when  out  of  sight  of  the  familiar 
headlands.  They  may  even  resent  the  introduction  of  a 
great  deal  that  they  cannot  interpret.  We  recall,  also, 
that  the  educated  find  fewer  things  entirely  new,  and  they 
are  more  rarely  carried  beyond  the  point  of  comparison. 

Most  persons  will  expect,  on  most  occasions,  to  gain 


ATTE  JTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  127 


something  from  attending  your  address.  They  usually 
hope  for  new  information,  or  to  get  new  light  on  an  old 
problem,  or  perhaps  to  receive  reassurance  and  inspira- 
tion. Excepting  the  unusually  serious-minded,  few  are 
so  keen  for  improvement  that  they  will  take  stock  after- 
ward of  what  they  have  gained ;  provided,  they  have  been 
interested.  But  if  you  have  not  succeeded  in  interesting 
them,  they  will  grumble  that  the  time  has  been  wasted, 
that  it  was  ''the  same  old  stuff,"  and  that  they  have  heard 
it  much  better  put  before. 

Summary.  The  new  has  power  to  interest;  and  the 
new  is  what  the  speaker  himself  often  desires  to  present. 
We  must  keep  in  mind,  however,  the  principle  of  derived 
interest.  New  ideas  and  facts  should  be  presented  so  that 
they  can  be  readily  related  to  existing  interests ;  so  that 
the  audience  can  see  that  the  new  is  a  valuable  addition 
to  existing  knowledge,  furnishes  a  new  explanation,  or  is 
in  opposition  to  existing  beliefs.  The  audience  likes  to 
identify  the  familiar  in  new  guise,  simply  to  identify,  or 
to  recognize  in  an  incident  or  situation  a  new  instance  to 
confirm  an  old  conviction,  or  to  findt  that  accepted  prin- 
ciples have  applications  hitherto  unknown.  We  must 
recognize  that  there  are  circumstances  under  which 
audiences  like  to  hear  familiar  ideas  put  in  familiar  ways ; 
and  yet  that  they  are  quick  to  complain  of  triteness,  which 
seems  to  be  the  result  of  putting  old  material  in  a  way 
which  fails  to  respond  to  or  awaken  their  emotions,  in  a 
way  which  falls  short  of  their  expectations,  or  which  as- 
sumes the  ignorance  of  the  audience.  Usually  we  should 
aim  to  give  something  new  in  material  or  something  new 
in  treatment ;  or  better,  something  new  in  both. 

Making  the  audience  think.  I  have  been  speaking 
merely  of  holding  attention,  leaving  out  of  view  the  other 
purposes  of  the  speaker.    I  have  considered  this  problem, 


128  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

too,  chiefly  from  the  standpoint  of  the  pleasure  of  the 
audience.  If  we  consider  the  question  of  new  and  old 
with  reference  to  making  the  audience  think,  which  is,  of 
course,  to  make  them  attend,  we  shall  come  to  the  same 
conclusion.  We  may  rest  this  on  the  following  from 
Dewey's  How  We  Think} 

' '  The  more  remote  supplies  the  stimulus  and  the  motive 
[of  thinking]  ;  the  nearer  at  hand  furnishes  the  point  of 
approach  and  the  available  resources.  This  principle 
may  also  be  stated  in  this  form :  The  best  thinking  oc- 
curs when  the  easy  and  the  difficult  are  duly  proportioned 
to  each  other.  The  easy  and  the  familiar  are  equivalents, 
as  are  the  strange  and  the  difficult.  Too  much  that  is 
easy  gives  no  ground  for  inquiry,  too  much  of  the  hard 
renders  inquiry  hopeless. ' ' 

Sensational  methods.  To  catch  attention  speakers 
sometimes  use  methods  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  usual. 
These  are  at  times  justifiable ;  as  when  your  audience  is 
peculiarly  inattentive  because  of  stupidity,  or  weariness, 
or  because  of  anger,  as  in  case  of  a  mob,  or  because  their 
attention  is  strongly  drawn  by  other  attractions,  as  is 
often  the  case  in  outdoor  speaking.  In  a  sense,  every 
speaker  uses  sensational  methods  when  he  suddenly  lifts 
his  voice,  or  uses  a  striking  gesture  or  epigram ;  but  when 
an  evangelist  advertises,  ^'Hell  to-night  at  the  Presby- 
terian Church,"  or  tears  off  coat  and  collar,  or  suddenly 
shouts,  *'Look  out!"  we  say  he  is  sensational.  Between 
these  extremes  are  many  grades  of  sensationalism,  and  it 
is  useless  to  attempt  to  say  what  is  justifiable  and  what  is 
not.  There  is  this  to  be  considered:  When  a  speaker's 
public  becomes  accustomed  to  his  extraordinary  methods, 
it  will  not  listen  so  well  when  he  wishes  to  use  more  con- 
venient ordinary  methods.    Extreme  methods  are  like 

1  P.  222. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  129 


stimulants,  the  close  has  to  be  increased.  If  you  turn  a 
physical  or  a  mental  handspring  to-day,  you  will  be  ex- 
pected to  turn  it  backward  to-morrow.  Again,  the  sen- 
sational method  may  defeat  its  purpose  of  drawing  at- 
tention to  what  you  wish  to  impress,  by  drawing  attention 
to  itself.  If  you  acquire  a  reputation  as  a  ''stuntster,'' 
people  will  come  for  the  stunts,  and  perhaps  feel 
impatient  when  you  try  to  slip  in  a  few  ideas. 

To  illustrate  effective  use  of  a  striking  expression,  we  may  take 
the  opening  sentence  of  a  bulletin  of  the  New  York  State  Health 
Board,  intended  to  catch  the  public  eye  from  the  pages  of  a  news- 
paper: "It  has  been  said  that  for  every  death  from  tuberculosis, 
some  one  should  be  hanged."  Having  caught  attention  without 
committing  the  Board  to  this  startling  proposal,  the  bulletin  pro- 
ceeds :  "It  has  been  better  said  that  for  every  death  from  tuber- 
culosis, some  one  should  be  educated."  And  note  that  this  attracts 
attention  to  the  very  point  of  the  bulletin.  I  would  not  at  all 
discourage  the  use  of  the  genuinely  effective  phrase. 

Curiosity.  One  of  the  surest  ways  of  catching  attention 
is  to  provoke  curiosity  in  regard  to  what  is  coming. 
This  is  done  sometimes  by  announcements  or  titles  which 
cause  guessing,  such  as  Jelly-Fish  and  Equal  Rights;  ^  or- 
it  may  be  done  by  hints  of  notable  disclosures  to  be  made, 
or  by  a  course  of  argument  which  keeps  the  hearer  iix 
doubt  as  to  the  speaker's  ultimate  position.  Again, 
tricks  are  played  upon  the  audience;  as  when  a  speaker 
displays  a  mysterious  document,  to  which  he  may  or  may 
not  refer.  Unless  the  speaker,  having  caught  attention, 
really  interesfchis  audience  in  something  else,  or  in  open- 
ing up  his  mystery  satisfies  them  that  their  attention  has 
been  repaid,  they  may  resent  the  trick ;  as  one  feels  peev- 
ish to  find  that  a  great  secret  he  has  been  called  aside  to 
hear,  is  but  trivial.  If  Mark  Antony  had  not  had  a  real 
sensation  after  holding  back  Ceesar's  will  so  long,  his  own 

1  Atlantic  Monthly,  July,  1914, 


ISO 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


might  have  been  among  the  houses  burned  by  the  mob. 
One  remembers,  too,  the  fate  of  the  boy  who  cried, ' '  Wolf, 
wolf!''  when  there  was^  no  wolf. 

Suspense.  Closely  related  to  curiosity  is  that  element 
which  carries  us  with  breathless  interest  to  the  conclusion 
of  a  novel,  seeking  to  know  the  hero's  fate,  and  which 
makes  most  thrilling  the  game  which  is  in  doubt  till  the 
last  ''put-out."  There  may  be  in  most  cases  strong 
reasons  why  the  speaker  should  tell  his  audience  in  ad- 
vance what  he  proposes  to  explain  or  prove  or  ask  them  to 
do,  but  the  element  of  suspense  is  often  available.  A  con- 
servative audience  was  held  in  considerable  trepidation  by 
a  student  speaker  who  devoted  the  first  half  of  his  speech 
to  the  best  possible  arguments  for  anarchy;  and  then 
listened  with  relief  while  he  toppled  over  these  same  argu- 
ments. Mere  uncertainty  is  not  very  effective;  the  un- 
certainty should  arise  with  regard  to  something  the  audi- 
ence cares  about.  Sometimes  the  material  of  a  speech  can 
be  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  dramatic  narrative  which  has 
suspense  as  a  principal  element. 

Anticipation.  But  it  is  not  sheer  blank  inability  to 
foresee  any  issue  at  all  that  is  most  provocative  of  in- 
terest ;  rather  the  chance  to  anticipate,  to  make  a  shrewd 
guess  at  the  outcome. 

A  preacher  kept  even  the  regular  sleepers  of  his  congregation 
awake  by  announcing  that  his  text  would  not  be  given  until  the 
end  of  his  sermon,  and  requesting  that  each  should  fix  upon  an 
appropriate  verse  of  Scripture. 

More  than  this,  we  must  admit  great  pleasure  in  looking 
forward  to  a  known  outcome. 

A  writer  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  "i-  points  out  that  we  go  to  a 
popular  play  with  pretty  complete  advance  information. 

"Consequently,  there  is  not  the  slightest  danger,  even  if  we  come 
late,  that  1  shall  laugh  at  the  wrong  place  or  fail  to  laugh  at  the 

1  May,  1914,  The  Show,  by  Simeon  Strunsky. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


131 


right  place,  or  that  Emmeline  will  fail  to  grope  for  her  handkerchief 
at  the  right  time.  Through  the  same  agency  of  the  newspaper  the 
funniest  lines,  the  strongest  'punch,'  the  most  sympathetic  bits  of 
dialogue  have  been  charted  and  located.  At  college  I  used  to  be 
told  that  the  tremendous  appeal  of  the  Greek  drama  was  dependent 
in  large  measure  on  the  fact  that  it  dealt  with  stories  which  were 
perfectly  familiar  to  the  public.  The  Athenian  audience  came  to 
the  theater  expectant,  surcharged  with  emotion,  waiting  eagerly 
to  let  its  emotion  go." 

The  speaker  will  meet  with  such  anticipation  usually 
only  in  times  of  public  excitement,  when  perhaps  the 
papers  have  been  prophesying  that  a  leader  will  make  a 
certain  announcement  on  a  given  occasion.  In  some  cases 
these  announcements  are  skilfully  prepared  for  by  hints 
to  the  papers  for  several  days,  hints  which  preserve  an 
element  of  uncertainty.  In  political  campaigns  a  candi- 
date may  go  about  day  after  day,  reiterating  a  popular 
pledge,  making  damaging  charges,  or  asking  hard  ques- 
tions of  his  opponent.  We  know  what  he  is  going  to  say, 
but  we  want  to  hear  him  say  it. 

Mr,  Jerome  with  his  brass  checks  from  the  "red-light"  district, 
in  one  of  his  campaigns  for  the  district  attorneyship  of  New  York 
City,  and  Mr.  Taft  with  his  oft  reiterated  pledge  in  1908  to  "carry 
out  absolutely  unaltered  the  policies  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,"  may 
serve  as  examples.  Mr.  Hennessey,  who  during  the  mayoralty  cam- 
paign in  New  York  City,  in  1913,  gave  each  night  a  portion  of  his 
revelations  of  Tammany  rule,  with  a  promise  of  more  to-morrow, 
illustrated  the  force  of  both  anticipation  and  suspense. 

Humor.  An  audience  will  listen  as  long  as  it  is  amused, 
and  a  good  laugh  may  banish  weariness  or  hostility.  So 
true  is  this  that  ability  to  make  an  audience  laugh  is  a 
dangerous  temptation  to  overuse  humor.  Unless  the 
story  or  witty  saying  serves  the  purpose  of  the  speech,  it 
is  likely  to  distract  attention.  The  practice  of  dragging 
in  stories  without  connection,  or  with  only  a  fictitious  con- 
nection, though  very  common,  is  one  to  **make  the 
judicious  grieve."   The  determination  to  be    funny"  at 


132 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


any  cost  comes  within  the  spirit  of  Hamlet's  condem- 
nation : 

**Let  those  that  play  your  clowns  speak  no  more  than 
is  set  down  for  them;  for  there  be  of  them  that  Avill 
themselves  laugh,  to  set  on  some  barren  quantity  of  spec- 
tators to  laugh,  too ;  though,  in  the  meantime,  some  nec- 
essary question  of  the  play  be  then  to  be  considered: 
that 's  villainous,  and  shows  a  most  pitiful  ambition  in 
the  fool  that  uses  it. ' ' 

Professor  Ketcham  i  tells  of  a  student,  with  whom  we  might  sym- 
pathize in  his  yielding  to  temptation,  without  approving  of  his 
action.  The  speaker  in  question  was  third  in  a  college  oratorical 
contest,  and  one  after  the  other  the  first  two  speakers  forgot  their 
speeches  and  retired.    He  came  forward  and  began: 

"Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget,  lest  we  forget.*' 

Professor  Ketcham  justly  observes:  *'The  effect  was  a  decided 
success,  if  success  were  to  be  judged  by  the  amusement  of  the 
audience ;  but  it  only  prolonged  the  time  required  to  get  the  at- 
tention of  the  audience  fixed  on  the  serious  subject  which  the 
speaker  wished  to  present."  There  is  one  possible  justification  for 
what  this  speaker  did, — that  the  quotation  served  to  relieve  the 
strain  of  feeling  which  holds  all  after  the  failure  of  a  speaker. 
If  the  student  had  had  the  skill  to  frame  a  new  introduction  to 
lead  gradually  from  the  fun  to  his  serious  subject,^!  should  say  he 
had  done  well,  but  that  is  beyond  the  average  ability. 

Even  on  the  lightest  of  occasions,  when  the  ^^nedessary 
question"  is  inconsiderable,  one  should  not  be  content  to 
descend  to  the  mental  level  of  the  Duchess :  ^ 

"He  might  bite,'*  Alice  cautiously  replied.  .  .  . 

"Very  true,"  said  the  Duchess,  "flamingoes  and  mustard  both 
bite.  And  the  moral  of  that  is — 'Birds  of  a  feather  flock  to- 
gether.' " 

It  is  no  great  stretch  of  imagination  to  hear  one  of  our  ever- 
ready  after-dinner  speakers  saying: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  I  see  before  me  a  dish  of  mustard.  A  simple 
object  to  be  sure;  yet  it  reminds  me  of  other  days.  It  reminds  me, 
that  mustard  bites."    (Here  story  of  the  mustard  plaster  of  child 

1  Arfjnmenfation  and  Debate,  p.  101. 
^  Alice  in  Wonderland,  Chap.  IX, 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  133 


hood.)  "But,  Mr.  Chairman,  mustard  is  not  the  only  thing  that 
bites.  Dogs  bite,  horses  bite,  tigers  bite,  and  even  birds,  though 
toothless,  bite.  Yes,  setting  hens  bite,  and  the  other  day  I  learned 
that  flamingoes  bite."  (Story  of  how  a  flock  of  flamingoes  bit  a 
crocodile.)  "Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  hour  is  late,  and  I  will  only 
take  time  to  observe,  in  more  serious  vein,  that  we  see  here  again 
exemplified  the  old  adage,  *Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together.'  I 
thank  you." 

Young  speakers  will  do  well  to  note  that  the  repetition 
of  stories''  is  not  the  only  way  to  add  humor  to  a  speech. 
It  may  spring  from  the  whimsical  turn  of  a  phrase,  from 
placing  in  juxtaposition  an  opponent's  incongruous  argu- 
ments, from  a  comical  bit  of  narration  or  description, 
without  going  at  all  outside  the  proper  materials  of  the 
speech,  or  checking  its  movement.  This  may  be  illus- 
trated from  a  student 's  speech  on  athletics :  ^ 

"Unconsciously  we  have  made  a  huge  caricature  of  the  whole 
business.  .  .  .  We  train  up  our  athletes  as  did  the  colonial  cavalier 
his  fighting  cocks,  or  as  does  the  modern  millionaire  his  racing 
horse ;  we  specially  feed  them,  transport  them  in  special  trains ; 
we  yell  for  them,  bet  on  them  and  weep  over  them.  If  it  were  not 
so  serious  it  would  be  highly  humorous,  the  sight  of  our  five-thou- 
sand dollar  coaches  and  trainers, — intelligent  men  for  the  most 
part, — running  around  after  their  charges,  coddling  them  and 
denying  them,  looking  solicitously  after  their  appetites,  seeing  that 
they  are  properly  rubbed  down,  tucking  them  into  bed,  turning  out 
the  lights,  aye,  and  report  has  it,  even  praying  for  them  in  a  fashion 
all  their  own." 

Here  and  in  several  other  places  in  the  speech  the 
speaker  amused  his  hearers  without  in  the  least  going  out 
of  his  way.  All  the  humor  served  to  impress  emphatic 
ideas. 

The  funny  story  is  much  in  vogue  and  undoubtedly  has  its  use 
as  well  as  its  abuse.  A  word  about  the  means  of  having  a  supply 
is  in  order.  While  we  like  old  jokes,  about  fat  men  and  about 
mothers-in-law,  still  they  do  pall  upon  the  taste  when  we  hear 
them  often  told  in  the  same  form,  and  listeners  are  rather  apt  to 
murmur,  ''That 's  an  old  one,"  especially  when  they  are  told  as 
new.    Joke  books  may  help  (Shurter's  Jokes  I  Have  Met,  is  as 

1  Tendencies  of  American  Athletics,  by  W.  W.  Taylor,  Cornell, 
'07,  winner  of  the  Central  Oratorical  League  contest  in  1906.  See 
Shurter's  Rhetoric  of  Oratory,  p.  219. 


134 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


good  as  any)  ;  but  as  one's  fellow  sufferers  at  a  banquet  may  have 
had  recourse  to  the  same  work,  a  speaker  does  well  to  have  a  pri- 
vate supply.  It  may  prove  worth  while  to  preserve  in  a  scrapbook 
or  card  index  such  stories  as  appeal  to  one  as  possibly  useful  in 
future  speeches. 

Interest  in  conflict.  "We  have  an  instinctive  interest  in 
conflict.  We  may  hate  it,  dread  it,  joy  in  it,  but  are 
rarely  indifferent  to  it,  whether  it  takes  the  form  of  a  dog 
fight,  of  athletic  straggles,  of  war,  of  business  competition, 
or  of  a  struggle  with  nature.  We  also  like  stories  of  con- 
flict, so  told  that  through  imagination  we  become  spec- 
tators of  or  participants  in  the  struggle. 

At  times  a  speaker  can  utilize  this  interest  by  throwing 
his  speech,  or  a  part  of  it,  into  a  narrative  of  the  conflict 
with  the  forces  of  the  opposition,  whether  those  forces 
consist  of  men,  aS  in  war,  politics  and  commerce,  or  of 
natural  obstacles,  as  in  building  a  canal  or  overcoming 
disease.  No  doubt  interest  is  keenest  where  the  conflict 
is  with  men,  where  passions  are  aroused;  but  enmity  is 
not  necessary.  The  story  of  the  heroic  period  of  an  en- 
terprise or  reform  will  usually  hold  attention. 

Antagonizing  the  audience.  Another  and  quite  differ- 
ent way  to  utilize  the  interest  of  conflict  is  to  antagonize 
one's  hearers;  as,  by  statements  contrary  to  their  beliefs, ^ 
or  by  condemning  their  customs  or  their  heroes.  A 
speaker  may  startle  a  sleepy  audience  into  attention  by 
/^a  sweeping  statement  which  he  later  modifies.  The 
speaker,  instanced  before,  who  seemed  to  advocate  an- 
archy, was  employing  antagonism  as  well  as  suspense. 
There  would  have  been  little  point  to  an  orthodox  refuta- 
tion of  anarchy  before  an  audience  convinced  of  its  awful- 
ness;  but  after  becoming  excited  by  an  argument  for  an- 
archy they  listened  with  relief  while  he  demolished  it.  A 
student  preaching  the  advantages  of    student  activities" 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  1S5 


would  get  better  attention,  if  he  first  stated  very  fairly 
the  argument  against  them.  The  method  secures  more 
thinking  on  the  part  of  the  audience.  Manifestly,  if  the 
speaker  wishes  to  get  more  than<  attention  from  his 
hearers,  antagonizing  them  is  a  dangerous  game  to  play ; 
and  one  who  plays  it  should  be  confident  of  his  ability  to 
keep  cool  and  to  restore  his  audience  to  good  humor. 

I  consider  only  the  question  of  interest  here  and  not  at  aU  the 
moral  question  involved.  I  assume  that  speakers  will  say,  in  one 
way  or  another,  what  they  believe,  and  will  not  try  to  deceive.  I 
recognize,  too,  that  at  times  one  may  feel  it  his  duty  to  antagonize 
an  audience. 

Interest  in  activity.  '^Nothing  is  more  interesting 
than  a  person,  an  animal,  even  a  machine,  in  action. 
Much  of  the  strength  of  window  demonstrations,  street 
vending,  etc.,  depends  on  this  fact.  The  New  York 
Herald  has  no  better  advertisement  than  the  sight  of  its 
presses,  from  the  windows  on  Broadway. ' '  ^  Probably  all 
students  will  recognize  the  picture  of  '  *  a  roomful  of  col- 
lege students  suddenly  becoming  perfectly  still  to  watch  a 
professor  of  physics  tie  a  piece  of  string  about  a  stick  he 
was  going  to  use  in  an  experiment,  but  immediately  grow- 
ing restless  when  he  began  to  explain  the  experiment." 
The  appeal  of  action  may  be  added  to  a  speech  sometimes 
by  the  use  of  apparatus,  but  more  often  by  a  measure  of 
acting,  by  gesture,  by  the  rapid  narration  of  ev^ts  and 
by  descriptions  of  animated  scenes.  We  see  here  the  re- 
lation of  this  topic  to  imagination. 

Illustrations  can  be  found  in  the  selectiohs,  Who  is  to  Blame? 
and  Await  the  Issue,  printed  at  the  end  of  Chapter  XIV,  and  in 
Wendell  Phillips's  Toussaint  VOuvertiire, 

Concreteness.    What  has  been  said  of  concreteness  in 
(Chapters  III  and  IV  should  be  reviewed  and  applied  to 
1  Hollingworth,  Advertising  and  Selling,  p.  114. 


136 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


audiences,  for  they  need  concrete  expression  even  more 
than  the  speaker  himself.  Great  speeches  will  be  found 
notably  concrete  in  language  and  abounding  in  illustra- 
tions ;  and  experienced  speakers,  at  least  those  who  suc- 
ceed with  general  audiences,  tend  to  grow  more  and  more 
concrete.  I  heard  a  noted  scholar,  now  distinctly  concrete 
in  his  speech,  say,  ''When  I  returned  from  Europe,  filled 
with  the  German  abstract  philosophy,  my  audiences  did 
not  ask  me  to  come  again. ' '  Highly  trained  thinkers  may 
hold  unnecessary  the  wealth  of  fact  and  incident  which 
experienced  speakers  put  into  their  discourse;  but  the 
speakers  know  that  the  less  highly  trained  will  hardly 
make  an  effort  to  listen  to  abstractions,  but  will  wait  till 
their  speakers  ''come  down  to  cases.''  Narratives,  ex- 
amples, illustrations,  fables,  parables— these  hold  atten- 
tion and  stick  in  memory. 

We  recall  the  less  usual  meanings  of  the  term  concrete. 
Our  ideas  should  be  clothed  in  familiar  terms,  such  as 
require  no  translation.    These  will  be  of  the  best  Eng- 
,'?lish,  the  English  known  to  all,  the  words  we  acquire 
3arly  in  life  and  which  have  the  greatest  significance  for 
as.    These  familiar  words  will  not  be  bookish  or  "big.'' 
It  does  not  matter  what  language  they  are  derived  frorr 
nor  whether  they  are  long  or  short,  just  so  they  are  fanr- 
iar  and  suitable ;  though  they  will  more  often  than  not  \ 
Saxon  and  short. 

There  are  obvious  limitations  on  this  doctrine:  less  fprailiar 
words  may  be  needed  for  accuracy,  and  even  for  force,  r.,;.i  tho 
more  specialized  one^s  subject  the  greater  the  need  for  te* 'liiic- 
language.    But  the  use  of  technical  and  unfamiliar  words  ;^hou 
not  be  extended  beyond  what  is  necessary.  ^ 

Long  and  short  words  and  Latin  and  Saxon  derivatives  are  di 
cussed  in  Spencer's  Philosophy  of  Style.    You  will  find  a  simp- 
and  specific  statement  of  what  good  sense  and  good  taste  d« .  ree 
the  use  of  words,  in  Hiirs  Foundationa  of  Rhetoric,  un^  r  t  • 
heading,  Words  to  Choose.  . 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  {lS7J 


Again,  we  recall  that  the  average  man  is  practical  in 
his  thinking,  and  will  be  chiefly  interested  in  the  appli- 
cations of  your  ideas.  He  may  dismiss  the  whole  matter 
unless  he  sees  early  in  your  address  that  you  are  coming 
to  a  practical  application.    Says  Dewey :  ^ 

^^For  the  great  majority  of  men  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, the  practical  exigencies  of  life  are  almost,  if 
not  quite,  coercive.  Their  main  business  is  the  proper 
conduct  of  their  affairs.  Whatever  is  of  significance  only 
as  affording  scope  for  thinking  is  pallid  and  remote — 
almost  artificial.  Hence  the  contempt  felt  by  the  success- 
ful executive  for  the  ^mere  theorist';  hence  his  convic- 
tion that  certain  things  may  be  all  very  well  in  theory, 
but  that  they  will  not  do  in  practice ;  in  general,  the  de- 
preciatory way  in  which  he  uses  the  terms,  abstract, 
theoretical,  and  intellectual — as  distinct  from  intelli- 
gent/^ 

A  group  of  men  listens  to  a  professor  of  physics  explaining  gyro- 
static  motion.  At  the  end  the  questions  show  that  the  chief  in- 
terest is  in  such  practical  questions  as  how  the  principle  affects 
automobiles  on  curves.  Some  of  the  scientific  men  present  inquire 
about  more  theoretical  applications,  but  their  questions  are  prac- 
tical to  them.  The  so-called  practical  man  might  consider  the 
above  quotation  from  Dewey,  ''moonshine" ;  but  I  find  it  interest- 
ing because  I  see  its  practical  applications. 

Once  your  average  man  has  derived  an  interest  in  a 
subject  through  some  practical  application,  he  may  be 
carried  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  practical. 

Be  specific  with  audiences.  Generalizations  have  their 
place^  but  they  shoiird  usually  be  accompanied  by  specific 
expressions  when  strong  impression  is  desired.  If  you 
wish  to  say  of  a  man  that  he  has  known  many  of  the  great 
of  his  time,  it  may  be  better  to  say,  He  has  met  and 
talked  familiarly  with  Gladstone,  Bismarck,  Cavour  and 
many  another  of  the  great  of  his  day — thus  securing  the 

1  How  We  Think,  p.  138. 


iSS 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


advantages  of  both  general  and  specific  statement. 
Macaulay  writes: 

*'Down  went  the  old  church  of  France,  with  all  its  pomp  and 
power.  The  churches  were  closed ;  the  bells  were  silent ;  the 
shrines  were  plundered ;  the  silver  crucifixes  were  melted  down ; 
buffoons  dressed  in  surplices  came  dancing  the  carmagnole,  even  to 
the  bar  of  the  convention." 

The  statement  grows  more  vivid  and  imagination  is 
touched  as  the  specific  items  are  added.  But  to  enumer- 
ate is  only  one  way  to  be  specific.  One  can  say  maple 
instead  of  tree,  Sam  Adams  instead  of  07ie  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary Fathers,  or  it  snowed  instead  of  the  weather 
was  bad.  Consider  the  difference  in  vividness  caused  by 
the  substitution  of  walked  for  ivent  in  He  went  down  the 
street;  and  then  substitute  for  walked  one  of  these: 
marched,  paced,  plodded,  sauntered,  hurried,  shuffled, 
shambled,  slunk,  staggered,  strode,  swaggered.  Tlie 
specific  terms  provoke  a  mental  image,  and  the  desired 
mental  image,  more  quickly  and  certainly  than  the  gen- 
eral expression.  The  word  tree  may  call  up  an  elm,  when 
the  speaker  meant  a  maple  tree ;  or  just  a  vague  any  sort 
of  tree,  or  no  tree  at  all.  Moreover,  as  our  emotional  as- 
sociations group  themselves  about  particular  things,  the 
specific  term  is  more  likely  to  find  firm  footing  in  the 
mind. 

Specific  and  general  illustrations.  It  has  been  pointed 
outHhat  illustrations,  which  are  by  their  nature  con- 
crete, may  be  either  general  or  specific.  The  statement 
that  college  education  is  not  necessary  to  the  development 
of  strong  men,  may  be  given  this  general  illustration: 
We  have  had  many  great  statesmen,  warriors,  inventors 
and  business  men  who  enjoyed  but  meager  schooling; 
but  we  come  to  specific  instance  with — 

1  Phillips,  Effective  H peaking,  p.  89. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  13i) 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  learned  at  school  only  the 
three  R's.  .  .  .  President  Andrew  Johnson,  a  former 
tailor,  visited  no  school.  .  .  .  Andrew  Carnegie  began  his 
commercial  career  when  twelve  years  of  age,  as  a  factory 
hand.  .  .  .  Edison  was  engaged  in  selling  papers  when 
twelve  years  of  age." 

The  general  illustration  has  the  advantages  of  giving 
fuller  scope  to  the  idea  and  of  not  checking  the  hearer 
in  supplying  instances  from  his  own  experience ;  but  it  is 
comparatively  vague  and  there  is  no  certainty  that  the 
hearer  will  be  able,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  to  sup- 
port the  statement  with  any  instances  at  all.  The  specific 
instance  limits  the  scope,  but  is  more  certain  to  provoke 
response  and  to  add  to  the  convincingness  of  a  statement ; 
provided  the  instances  given  have  strong  associations  in 
the  minds  of  one's  hearers.  Eucalyptus  would  more 
certainly  bring  a  sharp  image  to  a  California  audience 
than  would  tree,  but  not  to  a  New  York  audience. 

Imagination  and  attention  of  the  audience.  If  a 
speaker  in  his  preparation  duly  exercises  his  imagination 
and  gives  it  ample  material  to  work  upon,  he  will  tend  to 
express  his  thoughts  in  such  forms  as  will  stimulate  the 
imagination  of  his  hearers.  This  is  a  tendency  to  be 
encouraged.  Every  teacher  and  every  speaker  knows 
he  can  hold  attention  longer  with  experiments,  with 
objects  and  processes  to  see,  than  with  words  alone.  But 
since  the  actual  presentation  of  the  things  discussed  is 
limited,  maps,  charts,  diagrams  and  stereopticon  pictures 
are  brought  into  play  when  feasible.  So  strong  is  their 
command  of  attention  that  it  is  a  disadvantage  to  have 
them  present  when  one  does  not  wish  his  audience  to  look 
at  them. 

I  recently  heard  a  young  lecturer  who  permitted  his  operator  to 
run  off  near  the  end  of  his  discourse,  a  series  of  views  having  no 


140 


immediate  connection  with  what  he  was  saying.  Needless  to  say, 
that  part  of  an  interesting  lecture  was  lost. 

In  the  majority  of  cases,  the  use  of  pictures  and  charts 
is  impracticable  or  undesirable,  but  their  effectiveness 
serves  to  impress  upon  us  the  fact  that  a  speaker  who  can 
fill  the  minds  of  his  audience  with  images  of  sight,  sound 
and  motion,  is  pretty  sure  of  attention.  Of  the  speaker 
who  cannot  stir  imagination,  one  writer  ^  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  say:  man  who  cannot  translate  his  concepts 
into  definite  images  of  the  proper  objects  is  fitted  neither 
to  teach,  preach  nor  practise  any  profession.  He  should 
waste  as  little  as  possible  of  the  time  of  his  fellow-mortals 
by  talking  to  them." 

imagination  and  the  materials  of  a  speech.  One  does 
not  have  to  introduce  special  material  for  the  purpose 
of  rousing  imagination,  but  can  use  the  proper  materials 
of  his  speech.  The  facts  in  regard  to  the  life  of  Lincoln 
can  be  woven  together  to  make  him  stand  before  us  a 
living  man;  the  facts  upon  which  one  bases  his  argu- 
ment for  arbitration  can  be  arranged  so  as  to  make  con- 
ditions real.  Narration  and  description  are  the  chief 
means  of  accomplishing  these  ends;  and  the  study  of 
works  which  deal  with  these  forms  of  discourse  is  recom- 
mended, though  the  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  they 
are  prepared  for  the  student  of  written  rather  than  of 
oral  discourse.^ 

If  you  were  discussing  the  fortification  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  the  prospects  of  the  Mexican  people,  the  causes  of 
the  European  wap^^  the  safeguarding  of  passengers  on 
steamships,  the  business  future  of  the  South,  the  promise 
of  a  railroad  your  hearers  are  asked  to  finance,  the  best 

1  Halleck,  Psychology  and  Psychic  CvHure,  p.  188. 

2  Gardiner's  Forms  of  Prose  Dhcovrse,  Lamont's  English  Com- 
position and  Baldwin's  Composition  Oral  and  Written,  are  sug- 
«:ested.    Use  their  indexes. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  141 


kind  of  a  steam  plant  for  a  certain  factory, — in  all  these 
cases,  both  for  clearness  and  for  interest,  yon  would 
wish  so  to  group  your  facts  that  your  hearers  would 
imaginatively  realize  situations,  conditions  and  events. 
Some  speeches  will  fall  naturally  into  narrative  or  into  de- 
scriptive form ;  but  others  will  more  conveniently  take  an 
expository  or  an  argumentative  form.  These,  however, 
may  need  narrative  or  descriptive  passages,  as  in  explain- 
ing or  arguing  about  the  causes  of  a  war,  or  the  wisdom 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  Besides  the  necessary  descrip- 
tions of  places,  situations  and  major  events,  there  is  also 
opportunity  for  enlivening  discourse  by  descriptions  of 
personalities  and  by  anecdotes. 

Analogy.  We  may  reach  out  beyond  the  necessary  ma- 
terials of  a  speech  and  touch  imagination  by  the  use  of 
analogies,  comparisons  and  figures  of  speech.  For  ex- 
amples of  analogy  we  may  turn  to  the  selection  from 
Huxley  at  the  end  of  Chapter  XIY. 

Illustration,  of  one  form  or  another,  is  the  very  life 
of  speech.  No  one  can  be  unconscious  of  the  satisfaction, 
the  relief  from  strain,  the  coming  back  to  attention,  when 
a  speaker  follows  a  theoretical  discussion  with,  '  *  To  illus- 
trate." Illustrations  can  best  be  studied  in  complete 
speeches  or  long  excerpts  such  as  it  is  not  feasible  to  in- 
clude here.  One  also  needs  something  of  the  situation 
to  appreciate  a  good  illustration.  But  the  subject  is  of 
such  importance  that  I  shall  emphasize  a  few  points  in 
regard  to  the  use  of  illustrations. 

First  suggestion:  Take  care  that  each  illustration 
adds  its  strength  to  that  which  deserves  emphasis  in  your 
speech,  and  does  not  obscure  that  by  unduly  emphasiz- 
ing minor  points.  Resist  the  temptation  to  use  a  good 
story  or  striking  picture  for  its  own  sake,  regardless  of 
the  worth  of  the  idea  that  it  strengthens.    Do  not  ''work 


142 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


illustrations  in"  if  they  are  not  strictly  pat,  no  matter 
how  amusing,  or  stirring,  or  beautiful.  Your  hearers  will 
either  puzzle  over  the  relation  which  should  exist,  or  they 
will  be  drawn  off  to  the  thought  the  illustration  really 
illumines.  A  speaker  who  is  privileged  to  hear  the  com- 
ments of  his  auditors  will  often  be  pained  at  the  number 
of  instances  in  which  their  attention  has  been  caught 
by  some  idea  incidental  to  an  illustration  used,  while  the 
main  thought  has  escaped  them.  You  may  expect  your 
illustrations  to  be  remembered  longest ;  they  should  there- 
fore be  of  such  a  character  that  they  will  recall  to  mind 
your  major  ideas. 

I  heard  a  noted  advocate  of  equal  suffrage  spend  a  third  of  her  ad- 
dress on  the  illustration  of  a  minor  point  in  her  argument, — that  the 
country  people  before  her  should  be  interested  in  the  rights  and 
wrongs  of  city  workers.  This  suggested  the  truth  that  all  the 
world  to-day  is  bound  together  by  common  interests ;  and  this  point 
she  illustrated  by  the  effect  that  a  change  of  administration  in 
Korea  had  upon  an  industry  in  a  New  York  town.  For  fifteen 
minutes  she  described  very  beautifully  life  in  Korea,  while  we  for- 
got the  suffrage  and  even  the  direct  application  of  her  illustration. 

Second  suggestion:  Use  only  illustrations  which  are 
congruous  with  the  spirit  of  your  speech  and  of  the  occa- 
sion. Beware,  for  example,  of  frivolous  illustrations  on 
serious  occasions  and  of  such  as  will  seem  pretentious 
and  over-serious  on  lighter  occasions.  It  should  be  noted, 
however,  that  illustrations,  especially  of  a  narrative  char- 
acter, are  useful  in  gradually  changing  the  spirit  of  an 
audience. 

Third  suggestion:  Do  not  use  unnecessary  details, 
but  choose  those  needed  to  make  the  picture.  To  give 
every  detail  is  to  stifle  imagination ;  as  a  photograph  may 
suggest  less  than  a  few  strokes  of  an  artist 's  brush.  The 
street  urchin  I  heard  replying  to  his  chum's  question, 
*'How  is  the  ice?"  with,  ''Fine;  so  clear  you  can  see  a 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  143 


snake  on  the  bottom !  ^ '  could  not  have  improved  the  pic- 
ture of  good  skating  with  any  number  of  details.  Do  not 
let  needless  preliminary  details  take  more  time  than  the 
incident.  A  formal  introduction  is  not  always  necessary, 
not  even  ^^To  illustrate. ' '  Instead  of  a  long  preamble, 
as,  This  reminds  me  of  a  man  who  used  to  live  in  our 
town,  who  had  a  son  named  John,  who  would  not  go  to 
school.  So  the  father  decided  he  would  find  a  way  to 
impress  the  desirability  of  school  upon  his  son.  So  one 
morning  he  said  to  John,  at  the  breakfast  table,  says  he, 
''John,  etc.,'' — instead  of  all  this  rigmarole,  in  most  cases 
it  w^ould  be  better  to  say.  As  a  father  said  to  his  son  who 
would  not  go  to  school,  etc. 

Fourth  suggestion:  On  the  other  hand^  there  must  be 
details.  How  many  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  say :  enough 
to  serve  the  purpose.  If  needed  details  are  omitted  the 
audience  may  make  no  imaginative  effort;  or  may  sup- 
ply wrong  details. 

If  you  wish  them  to  imagine  a  scene  of  great  animation^ 
you  must  give  enough  details  of  life  and  movement  to 
prevent  their  imagining  a  lifeless  scene.  However,  it  is 
generally  true  that  fewer  details  are  needed  when  you 
wish  to  convey  merely  an  impression  than  when  you 
wish  your  hearers  to  form  an  image  substantially  correct  j 
as  when  you  wish  a  board  of  directors  to  know  the  pro- 
posed arrangement  of  a  factory,  or  a  jury  to  realize  exj 
actly  how  the  parties  to  a  tragedy  were  grouped.  There 
may  be  times  when  elaboration  is  desired  simply  to  hold 
attention  upon  the  illustration  longer,  in  order  to  deepen 
the  impression. 

Sufficiency  of  details  is  often  consistent  with  brevity^ 
Much  is  gained  by  using  specific  words.  If  instead  or 
saying  building,  you  say  tower  or  churchy  your  hearers 
have  the  right  image  at  once,  and  no  further  detail  may 


144 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


be  needed.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give  each  detail  a  sep- 
arate statement.  To  illustrate  both  this  and  the  preced- 
ing hint,  if  you  say,  The  army  was  moving  along  a 
stream,  you  still  need  several  details,  lest  your  hearers 
see  a  creek  when  you  mean  a  considerable  river,  and 
see  the  army  on  the  left  bank  going  north,  when  you  wish 
them  to  see  the  army  on  the  right  bank  going  south. 
But  if  you  say,  General  Jones  was  hurrying  with  his 
cavalry  division  down  the  right  bank  of  the  Delaware 
River  to  reach  the  ford  at  X,  several  essential  points 
have  been  economically  conveyed,  and  yet  given  sufficient 
prominence. 

You  should  beware  of  asking  an  audience  to  carry  in  mind  a 
very  elaborate  mass  of  details;  and  when  complexity  is  necessary 
you  should  use  charts,  pictures  and  models.  I  hear  students  trying 
to  explain  complicated  apparatus,  and  requiring  their  hearers  to 
put  in  order  in  imagination  so  many  thingumbobs  articulating  in 
80  many  ways  with  so  many  thingumjigs,  that  the  class  gives  up 
and  waits  politely  for  the  end.  Even  with  diagrams  and  all  pos- 
sible aids,  some  explanations  are  impossible  in  a  short  speech,  and 
these  should  simply  not  be  attempted.  The  answers  to  criticism, 
"Why  I  said  so  and  so,"  and  "I  thought  anybody  could  understand 
that,"  are  no  answers  at  all. 

An  analogy  may  be  helpful  in  explaining  a  complicated  situation. 
A  famous  example  is  that  by  Hugo  beginning,  "Those  who  wish  to 
form  a  distinct  idea  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo  need  only  imagine 
a  capital  A  laid  on  the  ground."  The  description  that  follows  is 
well  worth  looking  up.i  The  elevation  on  which  the  Northern  army 
lay  on  the  third  day  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  has  been  compared 
to  an  enormous  fish-hook,  with  Little  Round  Top  hill  at  the  eye 
of  the  hook,  the  cemetery  at  the  beginning  of  the  bend,  which 
curves  away  from  Lee's  main  position,  bringing  the  two  wings  of 
Meade's  army  rather  close  together. 

Fifth  suggestion:  The  success  of  any  piece  of  word 
painting  will  depend  much  upon  order  of  details.  It  has 
been  proved  that  the  time  taken  by  an  experienced  me- 
chanic in  assembling  a  machine,  can  be  cut  down  two 

iLe«  Miserahlea:  Cosette,  Book  I,  Chapter  IV. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  145 


thirds  by  providing  him  a  rack  which  presents  the  parts 
to  his  hands  in  the  best  older.  Somewhat  similar  is  the 
increase  in  your  hearers'  imaginative  effectiveness  when 
you  give  them  details  in  the  right  order.  If  some  needed 
detail  is  not  given  in  time,  your  hearers  may  be  at  a  loss, 
or  may  supply  it  wrongly,  and  then  have  to  reas- 
semble" the  whole.  The  illustration  above  of  describing 
the  movement  of  an  army,  may  be  applied  here  also. 

That  this  suggestion  is  not  merely  one  of  the  notions  of  fussy 
pedagogues,  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  so  great  a  thinker  as 
Herbert  Spencer  has  laid  stress  upon  the  order  of  details  in  an 
image,  going  so  far  as  to  weigh  the  relative  advantages  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  French  orders  in  a  Mack  horse  and  a  horse  blacky  and 
deciding  in  favor  of  the  former  on  the  ground  that  when  one 
hears  the  word  horse  he  is  likely  to  image  a  bay  horse,  and  thus 
have  to  reconstruct  his  mental  image  when  black  is  added.  We 
may  agree  with  critics  that  Spencer  pressed  his  point  too  far,  but 
not  on  the  ground  that  the  effort  of  reconstruction  is  too  slight  to 
matter.  "Mony  a  mickle  makes  a  muckle,"  and  the  nerve  force 
wasted  in  listening  to  a  half-hour  address  may  prove  considerable. 
Often  as  one  listens  in  conversation  to  a  description  or  narration, 
he  is  deeply  puzzled  until  some  missing  detail  is  given.  "Oh,"  he 
says,  *'that  is  what  stuck  me.  Now  it  begins  to  clear  up" ;  and  he 
straightens  out  the  matter  by  asking  questions  and  rearranging 
details.    But  one  who  listens  to  a  speech  usually  cannot  do  this. 

Sixth  suggestion:  Consider  your  audience  in  choos- 
ing illustrations.  First,  you  should  consider  what  illus- 
trations your  audience  will  understand.  The  references 
to  Dick  Turpin,  Jeremy  Diddler  and  Jonathan  Wild,  in 
the  selection,  Who  is  to  Blame?  (see  Chapter  XIV)  are 
open  to  criticism.  I  refer  here  to  brief  allusions.  If  time 
permits  and  the  illustration  is  worth  it,  sufficient  expla- 
nation to  make  it  intelligible  may,  of  course,  be  given. 
Secondly,  when  you  use  illustration  for  the  sake  of  in- 
terest, you  should  draw  from  fields  which  interest  your 
hearers.  Thirdly,  you  should  consider  what  associations 
you  may  be  stirring  up.    You  can  get  the  interest  of 


146 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


old  soldiers  by  illustrations  drawn  from  the  Civil  War ; 
but  in  your  Memorial  Day  address  in  the  North  you  had 
better  not  confine  yourself  to  Bull  Eun,  Chancellorsville 
and  other  defeats,  nor  in  the  South  would  you  choose 
Sherman 's  ^  ^  bummers ' '  to  illustrate  reckless  daring.  Not 
only  may  unfortunate  illustrations  provoke  unpleasant 
feelings,  but  also  they  may  distract  attention  from  your 
main  thought.  An  illustration,  even  though  apt  and  ap- 
plied to  the  central  thought,  may  be  too  interesting, 
whether  the  feelings  be  pleasant  or  unpleasant.  If  to- 
day one  draws  an  illustration  from  the  European  war, 
he  risks  losing  attention. 

Sources  of  material  for  illustration.  The  possible 
sources  are  too  numerous  to  mention;  but  illustrations 
are  so  little  used  by  young  speakers  that  some  sug- 
gestions are  justified.  Besides  such  general  sources  as 
politics,  history,  literature,  science  and  religion,  we  have 
the  special  suggestions  of  the  time  and  place  of  speaking, 
the  events  which  are  filling  the  press,  or  are  still  fresh  in 
memory,  and  the  direct  experiences  of  the  audiences.  It 
is  well  to  note  also  that  there  is  a  pleasurable  interest  in 
merely  recalling  events  of  the  more  distant  past.  The 
old  especially  will  awaken  to  interest  when  you  remind 
them  of  events,  important  or  unimportant,  which  once 
held  their  attention,  though  long  out  of  mind.  ''Yes," 
said  an  old  man  with  wistful  interest,  ''I  remember  I 
was  a  little  boy  when  the  war  w4th  Mexico  broke  out. 
Father  used  to  read  to  us  out  of  the  papers  about  General 
Taylor  and  Santa  Anna. ' ' 

Among  the  more  tangible  sources  of  illustration  are 
such  history  and  literature  as  come  within  common 
knowledge :  Shakespeare,  ^sop 's  fables,  American  his- 
tory and  the  Bible  are  perhaps  the  commonest  sources 
before  general  audiences.    A  student  of  affairs  has  at- 


ATTENTION  OF  THE/ AUDIENCE  /  117 

'  i 

tributed  something  of  Mr.  Byran's  power  with  such  audi- 
ences to  the  fact  that  he  has  *^the  Bible  and  American 
history  at  his  tongue's  end."  This  does  not  mean  that 
Mr.  Byran  has  a  scholar 's  knowledge  of  American  history 
and  the  Bible,  but  that  he  has  a  good  command  of  the 
better  known  facts. 

It  is  interesting  to  read,  in  connection  with  that  statement,  Mr. 
Bryan's  own  discussion  of  illustration.i  He  says  that  nature  and 
literature  are  the  two  sources,  and  nature,  in  which  term  he  evi- 
dently includes  human  nature,  is  the  more  important.  People 
know  nature  better  than  they  know  books,  and  the  illustrations 
drawn  from  everyday  life  are  the  most  effective.    To  quote : 

*'If  the  orator  can  seize  upon  something  within  sight  or  hearing 
of  his  audience — something  that  comes  to  his  notice  at  the  moment 
and  as  if  not  thought  of  before — it  will  add  to  the  effectiveness  of 
the  illustration.  For  instance,  Paul's  speech  to  the  Athenians  de- 
rived a  large  part  of  its  strength  from  the  fact  that  he  called  atten- 
tion to  an  altar  near  by,  erected  'to  the  Unknown  God,'  and  then 
proceeded  to  declare  unto  them  the  God  whom  they  ignorantly  wor- 
shiped. 

"Classical  allusions  ornament  a  speech,  their  value  being  greater 
of  course  when  addressed  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  their 
source.  Poetry  can  often  be  used  to  advantage.  .  .  .  By  far  the 
most  useful  quotations  for  the  orator,  however,  are  those  from  Holy 
Writ.  The  people  are  more  familiar  with  the  Bible  than  with  any 
other  single  book,  and  lessons  drawn  from  it  reinforce  a  speech. 
The  Proverbs  of  Solomon  abound  in  sentences  which  aptly  express 
living  truths.  Abraham  Lincoln  used  scripture  quotations  very 
frequently  and  very  powerfully.  Probably  no  Bible  quotation,  or, 
for  that  matter,  no  quotation  from  any  book,  ever  has  had  more 
influence  upon  the  people  than  the  famous  quotation  made  by  Lin- 
coln in  his  Springfield  speech  of  1858, — 'A  house  divided  against 
Itself  cannot  stand.'  It  is  said  that  he  had  searched  for  some  time 
for  a  phrase  that  would  present  in  the  strongest  possible  way  the 
proposition  he  intended  to  advance! — namely,  that  the  nation  could 
not  endure  half-slave  and  half-free." 

A  very  important  source  of  illustration  is  observation. 
The  speaker  who  observes  human  life  and  its  various  oc- 
cupations, talks  with  all  sorts  of  men,  looks  straight  at 
things  and  asks  questions  until  he  understands  them, 
will  gather  a  mass  of  illustrative  material  that  wdll  serve 
him  in  good  stead  when  needed. 

1  Introduction  to  his  World's  Famous  Orations^  p.  xiii. 


148 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Webster,  standing  one  morning  at  daybreak  on  the  heights  of 
Quebec,  heard  the  drumbeat  from  the  fortress  and  fell  to  thinking 
of  £he  extent  of  England's  power.  Years  after,  when  wishing  to 
impress  upon  the  Senate  the  rash  courage  of  our  forefathers  in 
resisting  so  great  a  power,  he  does  not  content  himself  with  statis- 
tics of  England's  army  and  navy  and  wealth,  but  illuminates  all 
with, — 

"They  raised  their  flag  against  a  power  to  which,  for  purposes  of 
foreign  conquest  and  subjugation,  Rome,  in  the  height  of  her  glory, 
was  not  to  be  compared,  a  power  which  has  dotted  over  the  surface 
of  the  whole  globe  with  her  possessions  and  military  posts ;  whose 
morning  drumbeat,  following  the  sun,  and  keeping  company  with 
the  hours,  circles  the  earth  daily  with  one  continuous  and  unbroken 
strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England.'* 

Figures  of  speech.  The  consideration  of  analogies  leads 
US  naturally  to  figurative  language.  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  treat  of  the  reasons  why  words,  singly  or  in  compo- 
sition, diverted  from  their  original  meaning  to  suggest  or 
signify  something  analogous/'  ^  serve  to  add  to  the  clear- 
ness and  beauty  of  composition.  We  are  concerned  with 
figures  as  a  means  of  holding  attention.  Wendell  treats 
figures  under  the  head  of  Force,  which  he  defines^  as 
^Hhe  emotional  quality  of  style,  .  .  .  the  distinguish- 
ing quality  of  a  style  which  holds  the  attention."  We  are 
particularly  interested  in  figures  here  because  they  tend 
to  create  images  in  the  mind. 

A  brief  review  of  speech  literature  will  convince  one 
that  there  is  force  in  figures  well  used.  We  shall  find 
that  many  of  those  passages  which  peculiarly  cling  to 
memory  are  enlivened  by  figure.  The  popular  declama- 
tions are  filled  with  figures ;  such  as  Grady 's  ' '  The  Uni- 
versity the  Training-Camp  of  the  Future,"  with  a 
metaphor  in  its  title,  and  beginning,  ' '  We  are  standing  in 
the  daybreak  of  the  second  century  of  this  republic. 
The  fixed  stars  are  fading  from  the  sky,  and  we  grope  in 
uncertain  light."    A  glance  through  Curtis 's  ^'Leader- 

1  Wendell,  English  Composition,  p.  245.  2  Ideniy  p.  235. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  149 


ship  of  Educated  Men,"  reveals  figures  in  almost  every 
line.    Observe  this  paragraph : 

"The  scholar  is  denounced  as  a  coward.  Humanity  falls  among 
thieves,  we  are  told,  and  the  college  Levite,  the  educated  Pharisee, 
pass  by  on  the  other  side.  Slavery  undermines  the  Republic,  but 
the  clergy  in  America  are  the  educated  class,  and  the  church  makes 
itself  the  bulwark  of  slavery.  Strong  drink  slays  its  tens  of 
thousands,  but  the  educated  class  leaves  the  gospel  of  temperance 
to  be  preached  by  the  ignorant  and  the  enthusiast,  as  the  English 
Establishment  left  the  preaching  of  regeneration  to  Methodist 
itinerants  in  fields  and  barns.  Vast  questions  cast  their  shadows 
upon  the  future  :  the  just  relations  of  capital  and  labor ;  the  dis- 
tribution of  land ;  the  towering  power  of  corporate  wealth ;  reform 
in  administrative  methods ;  but  the  educated  class,  says  the  critic, 
instead  of  advancing  to  deal  with  them  promptly,  wisely,  and 
courageously,  and  settling  them  as  morning  dissipates  the  night, 
without  a  shock,  leaves  them  to  be  kindled  to  fury  by  demagogues, 
lifts  a  panic  cry  of  communism,  and  sinks  paralyzed  with  terror.'* 

One  may  be  surprised  on  examination  to  find  how 
constantly  one  uses  figures>  Even  if  some  student  says 
he  will  leave  such  flowery  stuff  to  the  wind-jammers 
and  hot  air  artists,"  he  is  using  metaphors,  and  mixing 
them  too.  Figures  give  the  punch''  to  slang.  Some 
one  has  said  that  language  is  but  a  nosegay  of  faded  meta- 
phors. Some  of  these  lie  partly  hidden  in  Latin 
derivatives.  ' '  Attention  really  means  a  stretching  out  to- 
ward. .  .  .  Apprehend  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  the 
Latin  for  catch  on/'^  More  plainly  we  see  the  figures  in 
daybreak,  a  wild  idea,  flight  of  time,  break  the  ice,  grit, 
fret.  We  cannot  help  using  figures  if  we  would.  It  is 
doubtful  if  one  should  often  seek  a  figure;  though  he 
may  when  wishing  a  rallying  cry,  or  other  expression 
which  he  very  especially  wishes  to  stick  in  mind.  But 
since  we  are  bound  to  use  figures,  and  since  well  used 
they  have  force  and  badly  used  may  be  absurd,  some  at- 
tention to  them  is  desirable. 

Wendell  finds  -  that  the  essence  of  figure  is  a  *  ^  deep 
sense  of  connotation,"  and  that  their  good  use  demands 

1  Wendell,  English  Composition,  p.  248. 

2  Idem,  pp.  255,  25& 


150 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


primarily  sympathy;  that  is,  such  an  understanding  of 
those  addressed  as  will  enable  one  to  know  what  associa- 
tions a  figure  will  arouse  in  their  minds.  The  comparison 
should  be    broadly,  sympathetically  human. 

A  complete  treatment  of  figures  would  be  out  of  place  here. 
Those  not  familiar  with  the  subject  will  profit  by  turning-  to  one 
or  more  of  the  following  works :  Hill's  Foundations  of  Rhetoric, 
Wendell's  English  Composition^  Spencer's  Philosophy  of  Style,  Ge- 
nung's  Working  Principles  of  Rhetoric,  Read  also  what  Whipple 
says  on  the  subject  in  his  essay,  Webster  as  a  Master  of  English 
Style.    I  will  speak  only  of  the  chief  danger  in  the  use  of  figures. 

The  chief  danger  lies  in  the  mixed  metaphor,  the  product  of  a 
mind  too  unimaginative  to  realize  that  it  is  using  figures,  or  of  a 
very  nimble  imagination  which  leaps  too  rapidly  from  picture  to 
picture. 

Probably  few  are  capable  of  the  famous  bull :  smell  a  rat, 
I  see  it  floating  in  the  air ;  but  mind  you,  I  shall  nip  it  in  the  bud," 
or  of  that  product  of  the  same  mind,  stand  prostrate  before  the 
throne."  These  were  nearly  equaled,  however,  by  the  member  of 
Parliament  who  declared  that  the  British  lion,  "whether  roaming 
the  plains  of  India,  or  climbing  the  forests  of  Canada,  will  never 
draw  in  his  horns  or  crawl  into  his  shell."  *'The  young  men  are 
the  backbone  of  this  country,"  declared  a  speaker,  "and  that  back- 
bone should  be  brought  to  the  front."  I  heard  a  preacher  depicting 
a  young  girl  coming  forth  from  her  home  to  go  tripping  o'er  the 
sea  of  life,  while  the  devil  reaches  for  her  on  every  hand. 

The  famous  "bulls"  are  only  especially  absurd  instances  of  what 
any  one  is  likely  to  produce  who  is  careless  in  his  use  of  words. 
While  the  slips  are  rarely  so  amusing  as  those  given  above,  they 
may  be  quite  as  confusing  to  those  hearers  who  have  active  imag- 
inations. 

You  will  notice  that  the  absurdities  are  often  due  to  failure  to 
recognize  the  figures  in  hackneyed  expressions.  Backhone,  smell 
a  rat,  sea  of  life,  are  faded  metaphors,  but  are  still  too  strongly 
llgurative  to  be  used  freely  in  disregard  of  their  original  meanings. 
The  best  suggestion  for  avoiding  error  is  that  we  should  develop 
the  habit  of  visualizing  our  expressions.  No  man  who  does  this 
will  make  the  ship  of  state  jump  the  rails,  or  break  the  backbone 
of  a  cold  wave. 

A  well  developed  sense  of  words,  such  as  is  acquired  by  language 
study,  is  a  great  safeguard.^    Every  speaker  should  develop  some 

1  Cf.  Titchener,  Primer  of  Psychology,  p.  205, 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  151 


sense  of  the  figures  which  lie  in  the  plain  English  forms,  at  least; 
such  as  standard,  safeguard  and  hand.  Every  one  should  realize 
that  a  standard  may  be  raised  or  lowered,  but  hardly  laid  down 
when  one  means  set  up ;  and  that  one  is  not  injured  at  the  hands 
of  a  bulldog.  If  a  hearer  is  not  confused,  he  is  at  least  distracted, 
when  he  is  told  of  Goldwin  Smith  that  his  ^'intellectual  activities 
kept  pace  with  his  declining  years.'* 

Since  the  figures  to  which  our  attention  is  called  are  usually 
either  absurd  or  magnificent,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
some  of  homely  force.  These  we  may  find  in  many  a  proverb,  such 
as,  "A  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire,"  "A  rolling  stone  gathers  no 
moss."  Of  the  extreme  abolitionists,  Beecher  said,  "They  are  try- 
ing to  drive  the  wedge  into  the  log  butt-end  foremost,  and  they  will 
only  split  their  beetle."  And  Robert  Collier  said  of  Beecher,  who 
broke  through  the  traditional  theology  of  his  church,  **He  was  an 
oak  planted  in  a  washtub ;  it  was  hard  on  the  tub." 

Variations  in  imagery.  We  should  note  again,  that 
individuals  differ  in  regard  to  their  dominating  forms  of 
imagery.  These  differences  are  likely  to  affect  expres- 
sion ;  that  is,  an  eye-minded  person  in  describing  an  event 
is  likely  to  emphasize  the  visual  imagery,  dwelling  upon 
what  was  to  be  seen;  while  an  ear-minded  person 
will  emphasize  sounds.  A  pertinent  suggestion  arising 
from  these  facts  I  am  permitted  to  quote  as  follows : 

^ ' '  If  the  speaker  is  a  visual,  and  his  audience  is  made 
up  predominantly  of  motors,  his  images  are  of  no  use. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  most  audiences  are  largely  visual; 
but  there  is  a  large  motor  element  everywhere,  and  al- 
lowance must  be  made  for  it.  .  .  .  Another  thing  to  re- 
member is  the  audience's  limits  of  attention.  Shift  from 
one  type  of  cue  to  another  on  the  part  of  the  lecturer  is 
more  restful  than  the  attempt  to  be  concrete  within  the 
range  of  a  single  kind  of  cue.  A  man  speaks  very  dif- 
ferently on  the  same  subject,  according  as  he  speaks 
from  sight,  sound  or  feel.  He  becomes  a  different  man ; 
his  language  and  the  nature  of  his  appeal  are  different; 
and  so  the  audience  does  not  get  tired." 

letter  from  Professor  Titchener. 


152 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Sustaining  attention.  We  have  noted  that  novelty, 
curiosity,  and  sensational  methods,  while  they  may  catch 
attention,  will  not  of  themselves  hold  it;  but  what  we 
have  learned  of  derived  interest,  concreteness  and  imagi- 
nation is  as  applicable  to  sustaining  as  to  gaining  atten- 
tion. And  what  we  shall  proceed  to  concerning  compo- 
sition is  applicable  to  both  phases.  There  are,  however, 
some  special  considerations  under  this  head. 

The  principle  especially  in  mind  here  is  already  famil- 
iar from  Chapter  III.  Fix  in  mind  the  statement  quoted 
from  Professor  James  on  p.  60,  noting  in  particular,  '*The 
subject  must  be  made  to  show  new  aspects  of  itself;  to 
prompt  new  questions;  in  a  word  to  change."  Few 
phases  of  this  whole  subject  are  better  worth  our  con- 
sideration than  the  avoidance  o^^  and  we  are 
now  prepared  to  enumerate  some  of  the  ways  of  present- 
ing a  topic  with  due  variation.  They  can  be  used  only 
by  a  man  ''of  fuH  mind,  in  whom  the  subject  in  hand  is 
so  mastered  and  matured  that  his  thought  upon  it  is  active 
and  germinant."^  Amplification  of  a  thought  does  not 
mean  dilution,  but  enrichment: 

First,  we  have  the  various  phases  of  our  subject-matter. 
If  Lincoln  is  our  theme,  we  may  view  him  in  the  many 
phases  before  suggested.  If  we  have  narrowed  down  to 
Lincoln's  tact,  we  may  consider  his  tact  in  the  law  court, 
in  politics,  in  dealing  with  his  generals,  with  diplomats, 
etc.  If  the  theme  is  arbitration,  we  may  look  at  its 
economic  side,  its  social  side,  its  moral  side,  etc.  If  we 
speak  on  ''Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  we  may  treat  it 
first  theoretically,  then  practically;  and  then  we  may 
consider  honesty  in  social  life,  in  the  practice  of  law  or 

1  Genung,  Working  Principles  of  Rhetoric,  p.  464.  This  is  an 
excellent  reference  on  amplification.  See  also  Phillips's  Effective 
Speaking  under  the  headings,  Cumulation,  l{e^^tateme^t,  General 
Illustration,  Specific  Instance  and  Testimony.  r 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


153 


medicine,  or  in  selling  goods.  Taking  up  the  uegro 
problem,  a  mind  at  all  familiar  with  that  subject  can 
work  out  twenty  phases  in  as  many  minutes.  But  since 
we  must  usually  treat  but  one  small  part  of  a  subject,  we 
must  carry  analysis  further.  From  the  negro  question 
we  may  select  the  negro  in  slavery;  then,  even  without 
study,  we  think  of  how  the  negroes  were  brought  into 
slavery,  the  economic  factors  that  made  their  labor  profit- 
able in  the  South,  but  not  in  the  North,  different  types 
of  negroes  in  slavery,  negroes  as  skilled  workers,  rela- 
tions of  masters  and  slaves,  education  permitted,  means 
of  gaining  freedom,  their  music,  religion,  etc.  But  al- 
most any  one  of  these  divisions  would  make  a  topic  for 
a  speech ;  and  on  study  and  analysis  we  should  find  that 
we  could  go  on  subdividing,  as  the  botanist  continues  to 
make  more  and  more  classifications  as  his  knowledge 
grows  more  intensive.  Here,  of  course,  the  study  of  the 
topic  as  urged  in  Chapter  IV  comes  in  play.  ^ 

Again,  we  may  consider  our  material  from  different 
angles,  as  it  will  be  viewed  by  different  classes  of  people. 
If  lynching  is  our  theme,  we  may  consider  how  Tfie 
ignorant  negro  is  affected  by  it,  how  the  intelligent 
negro  views  it,  how  the  North  looks  upon  it,  and  how  dif- 
ferent classes  of  Southern  people  view  it.  Further,  w^e 
may  very  profitably  consider  with  how  many  existing  in- 
terests of  our  hearers  we  can  link  our  topic ;  for  every  new 
relationship  gives  it  a  new  aspect.  We  may  put  our 
ideas  now  into  abstract,  now  into  concrete  terms ;  now  into 
general  use,  now  into  specific  terms.  We  may  utilize  apt 
quotations.  We  may  throw  our  arguments  now  into  the 
forms  of  hard  and  fast  exposition  and  logic,  now  into 
forms  which  will  touch  the  imagination  and  the  dramatic 
sense.  We  may  use  examples,  illustrations  general  and 
specific  and  analogies  and  figures. 


15* 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


TKis  list  of  possibilities  is  suggestive  rather  than  com- 
plete. It  is  further  to  be  observed  that  how  much  varia- 
tion is  needed  depends  upon  the  length  of  the  speech, 
its  difficulty  and  the  ability  of  the  audience  to  attend 
and  their  eagerness  to  listen.  Experience  indicates  that 
all  this  is  not  too  obvious  to  mention,  but  should  prove 
useful  as  a  means  of  self-criticism.  Beginners  are  often 
weak  in  the  use  of  wdse  amplification. 

Brevity.  Often  the  beginner  does  not  see  that  ampli- 
fication is  needed  for  clearness  and  impressiveness,  but 
thinks  it  means  simply  making  a  little  go  a  long  way, — 
dilution.  The  virtue  of  brevity  is  much  impressed  upon 
us.  We  are  told  that  ''brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit,"  that 
the  average  composition  would  be  improved  by  cutting 
out  half  its  words.  Adjectives  and  adverbs  in  excess  are  ^ 
particularly  w^arned  against.  When  Hamlet  says  of  his 
father, ' '  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, ' '  he  could 
not  have  strengthened  his  praise  by  adding  any  adjective 
to  man.  Too  many  words  and  phrases,  circumlocutions, 
such  as  iron  utensil  frequently  employed  for  excavation 
instead  of  spade, — all  these  are  clumsy  and  clog  move- 
ment. Brevity  is  an  essential  ingredient  in  many  a  force- 
ful saying,  though  surprise  is  quite  as  important: 
*' Verbosity  is  cured  by  a  wide  vocabulary ;  *' Language 
is  the  art  of  concealing  thought";  ''Do  not  mistake  per- 
spiration for  inspiration";  "God  pays,  but  he  does 
not  pay  every  Saturday."  And  finally,  we  know  that 
audiences  like  brevity;  that  is,  they  like  short  speeches. 

Granting  all  this  and  more,  still  we  must  not  over- 
estimate the  value  of  mere  brevity.  There  is  a  necessity 
of  iteration,  of  staying  attention  upon  an  idea  until  it 
grows  clear  and  impressive.  Psychologists  tell  us  that 
frequency  as  well  as  intensity  is  important  in  fixing  im- 
pressions.   More  than  this,  amplification  is  not  mere 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


155 


repetition ;  there  is  gain  in  information  and  understand- 
ing. Even  the  restatement  sheds  new  light  on  a  point. 
If  this  were  not  true,  many  of  the  greatest  essays,  poems, 
books,  even  the  life  work  of  some  great  men  might  as  well 
be  condensed  into  a  few  sententious  sayings.  Would  it 
have  been  better  if  Newman,  having  written  in  The  Idea 
of  a  University  that  a  gentleman  ^^is  one  who  never  in- 
flicts pain, ' '  had  not  gone  on  for  several  fine  paragraphs, 
explaining  and  impressing  his  meaning?  Yet  there  is 
the  whole  thought  '  ^  in  a  nutshell. ' ' 

Let  us  take  an  earnest  presentation  of  the  argument 
for  brevity  by  Dr.  Austin  Phelps :  ^ 

''Many  years  ago,  Kossuth  the  Hungarian- patriot,  in 
an  address  in  the  city  of  New  York,  expressed  the  idea 
that  the  time  had  gone  by  when  the  people  could  be 
depended  upon  for  their  own  enslavement  by  standing 
armies.  He  compressed  it  into  two  w^ords.  Said  he, 
'Bayonets  think.'  The  words  caught  the  popular  taste 
like  wildfire.  They  took  rank  with  the  proverbs  of  the 
language  immediately.  The  idea  was  not  new,  but  the 
style  of  it  was.  It  had  been  floating  in  the  dialect  of 
political  debate  ever  since  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill, 
but  never  before  had  it  been  condensed  into  a  brace  of 
words.  The  effect  was  electric.  Millions  then,  for  the 
first  time,  felt  it  as  a  fact  in  political  history.  Within  a 
month  the  newspapers  of  Oregon  had  told  their  readers 
that  bayonets  think.  Everybody  told  everybody  else 
that  bayonets  think.  In  style  it  was  a  minie-bullet : 
everybody  who  heard  it  was  struck  by  it.  Such  is  the 
force  of  laconic  dialect. ' ' 

Observe,  first,  that  this  expression  "Bayonets  think," 
would  be  very  hard  to  interpret  if  it  stood  alone.  Dr. 
Phelps  tells  us  it  is  an  old  idea,  yet  he  feels  the  need  of 
giving  its  meaning  in  advance.  No  doubt  Kossuth  had 
presented  the  idea  fully  before  he  reached  this  expres- 

1  Phelps  and  Frink,  Rhetoric^  p.  139. 


156 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


sion  in  his  speech,  and  this  was  only  a  way  of  condensing 
his  thought  into  a  flashing  phrase  that  would  stick  in 
memory.  Usually  these  phrases,  wonderful  for  brevity 
and  force,  depend  upon  the  previous  understanding  of 
the  audience,  gained  either  beforehand  or  from  the 
speech  itself ;  and  they  simply  crystallize  this  understand- 
ing. This  is  true  of  the  epigrams  quoted  above.  How 
much  would  they  mean  to  one  who  could  not  translate  and 
amplify  them  ?  So  much  depends  upon  the  information 
i  and  belief  of  one's  hearers  that  we  cannot  safely  accept 
V.  the  dogmatic  statement,  the  briefer  the  better. 

So  much  for  brevity  and  clearness.  We  cannot  doubt 
that  brief  statements  are  often  forceful.  I  should  like 
to  insist  on  this  truth,  were  there  need ;  but  it  is  also  true 
that  brevity  is  not  necessarily  forceful.  Note  how  Dr. 
Phelps,  in  his  desire  to  impress  us  with  the  force  of  Kos- 
suth's phrase,  multiplies  words.  He  goes  into  details, 
he  reiterates,  and  he  employs  figures  of  speech.  Empha- 
sis requires  time  as  well  as  sheer  force.  The  hearer  must 
have  time  to  think,  to  take  in  the  thought.  If  you  can 
keep  me  thinking  of  a  matter  for  an  hour,  you  have  made 
that  matter  important  in  my  eyes.  The  Gettysburg  Ad- 
dress is  pointed  to  as  a  marvel  of  brevity ;  but  if  the  ut- 
most brevity  is  good,  this  speech  is  verbose.  Short  as  it 
is,  it  contains  words  not  necessary,  and  even  repetitions. 
Moreover,  the  times  prepared  the  audience  for  the  speech 
and  Edward  Everett,  who  spoke  before  the  President,  had 
in  a  long  discourse,  reviewed  the  history  which  formed  a 
background  for  Lincoln's  address.  And  after  all,  there 
is  strong  evidence  that  the  audience  were  not  so  much  im- 
pressed with  the  speech  as  we  are.  It  was  too  short  for 
a  hearer,  who  lacks  the  reader's  opportunity  to  deliberate. 
When  Lincoln  debated  with  Douglas  he  usually  took  his 
full  two  hours. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  157 


Short  sermons  are  especially  welcomed.  Is  it  not  because  we  go  to 
church  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  because  hearers  and  preachers  alike 
often  fail  to  do  their  share  toward  making  sermons  interesting?  We 
do  not  like  a  really  good  sermon  to  stop  in  fifteen  minutes.  Some 
may  find  interest  in  turning  to  the  Outlook  for  July  10,  1913,  and  ex- 
amining the  sermon  at  p.  631,  selected  and  commended  for  its  brev- 
ity. It  amuses,  it  hits  its  point ;  .but  does  it  satisfy  ?  Is  the  appli- 
cation clear?  Would  it  be  equally  good  before  an  ordinary  congre- 
gation ? 

A  good  thing  should  not  be  made  a  fetish.  Serious 
writers,  including  Dr.  Phelps,  recognize  the  limitations 
of  the  doctrine,  be  brief,  and  they  dwell  also  upon  the 
need  for  amplification.  What,  then,  is  the  truth?  Am 
I  urging  you  to  be  as  long-winded  as  you  like  ?  Heaven 
forbid !  Short  speeches  are  usually  best.  First,  we  must 
take  the  familiar  suggestion :  Consider  the  circumstances 
and  the  needs  of  your  audience.  Is  the  brief  statement 
sufficiently  clear?  sufficiently  impressive?  If  so,  use  no 
more  words.  Secondly,  in  answering  the  first  question, 
consider  whether  you  are  amplifying  a  thought  that  de- 
serves emphasis.  Thirdly,  waste  no  words.  Be  eco- 
nomical; but  that  does  not  mean  niggardly  with  words, 
as  Professor  Palmer  says  ^  Emerson  was.  An  old  lawyer 
has  said  that  ^Hhe  number  of  a  man's  words  should  be 
like  the  length  of  a  blanket, — enough  to  cover  the  bed 
and  to  tuck  in  besides. ' '  Do  not  cut  out  till  the  effect  is 
bareness.  Ask  yourself,  does  the  word  in  question  serve 
a  proper  purpose?  AVould  one  serve  as  well  as  two? 
Fourthly,  in  order  to  secure  needed  amplification  and  yet 
keep  our  speeches  short,  we  should  narrow  our  themes. 
There  are  but  few  occasions  when  we  are  required  to  cover 
a  large  subject  in  a  few  minutes  On  the  occasion  of 
Lincoln's  second  inaugural  there  were  many  topics  crying 
for  attention ;  and  yet  his  address  was  brief  because  he 

1  Self 'Cultivation  in  English,  p.  12. 


158 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


limited  his  scope.  This  is  the  brevity  audiences  like,  that 
of  a  well  developed  but  limited  idea,  not  that  of  a  bare, 
hard-packed  address.  A  short  dull  speech  may  seem 
longer  than  a  long  interesting  one. 

There  is  no  mistake  more  common  with  our  college  debaters,  who 
are  compelled  to  be  brief,  than  that  of  endeavoring  to  pack  as  many 
arguments  as  possible  into  five  or  ten  minutes,  instead  of  trying  to 
make  a  few  essential  points  impress  and  cling  to  the  judges*  minds. 

Unity  in  variety.  I  have  emphasized  the  need  for 
change  and  also  the  need  for  dwelling  upon  important 
ideas;  and  now  I  emphasize  the  need  for  unity,  which 
demands  that  each  speech  should  ' '  group  itself  about  one 
central  idea."  We  must  make  a  distinction  between 
merely  holding  attention  through  a  given  period,  and 
holding  attention  to  those  ideas  which,  properly  im- 
pressed, will  accomplish  our  further  purposes.  It  may  be 
possible  to  hold  attention,  if  that  is  all  that  is  desired,  by 
a  series  of  disconnected  ^^hits,"  whether  these  be  jokes, 
stories,  ''purple  patches,"  epigrams,  passages  of  sheer 
beauty,  or  any  other  resource  of  composition  and 
delivery;  but  all  this  is  a  waste  for  a  speaker  with  a 
purpose,  unless  he  has  used  all  to  produce  a  unified 
impression.  The  importance  of  unity  will  grow  upon  us 
as  we  study  and  practise  public  speaking. 

A  writer  tells  i  us  the  plays  of  to-day  "do  not  depend  for  their 
effect  upon  cumulative  interest,  but  upon  individual  'punch.*  .  .  . 
Our  latest  dramatic  form  combines  all  forms  in  a  swift  medley  of 
effects  that  I  can  describe  by  no  other  term  than  vaudeville."  He 
adds  significantly  that  when  the  curtain  falls,  turning  from  the  play 
instantly,  "we  lean  back  into  the  ordinary  world''  and  "resume  con- 
versation interrupted  in  the  subway." 

I  have  in  mind  a  preacher  whose  sermons  might  also  be  described 
as  vaudeville.  There  is  the  call  to  laugh  and  the  call  to  weep,  occa- 
sional dashes  at  the  text,  anything  and  everything  that  will  make  a 
hit,  with  extremely  slight  regard  for  the  supposed  theme.    When  he 

1  Simeon  Strunsky,  iu  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  May,  1914,  p.  627. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  159 


comes  to  the  final  appeal  you  feel  it  is  simply  tacked  on  to  satisfy 
custom ;  indeed,  you  have  a  sense  of  surprise  that  a  show  should  end 
that  way. 

Three  unities.  There  is  need  for  unity  of  thought  and 
this  is  the  unity  usually  emphasized  in  the  texts.  What- 
ever is  said,  however  many  ideas  are  advanced,  all  should 
be  subordinated  to  one  central  thought  which  all  serve 
to  develop.  There  is  also  a  unity  of  feelmg.  However 
many  emotions  are  touched,  all  should  blend  to  produce 
the  desired  mood.  Both  these  unities  enter  into  and  are 
subordinate  to  unity  of  purpose;  that  is,  all  that  goes  into 
a  speech  should  bear  the  test  of  promoting  understanding,^ 
inducing  belief,  or  influencing  conduct,  according  to  the 
speaker's  aim  in  a  given  speech. 

Due  attention  to  unity  does  not  preclude  variety. 
Variety  in  unity  James  declares  '^the  secret  of  all  interest- 
ing'Taffi  and  thought."  Other  writers  say,  ''Variety  in 
unity  is  the  secret  of  sustained  attention.''  ^  Unity  you 
need ;  variety  you  need ;  there  is  no  conflict.  While  you 
must  turn  attention  from  one  aspect  of  your  theme  to 
another,  you  should  turn  to  aspects  of  that  part  which  is 
under  consideration.  And  also,  as  indicated  above,  you 
gain  variety  by  stating  the  same  idea  in  different  ways. 
Fix  this  in  mind:  Change  does  not  require  jumping 
from  one  topic  to  another ;  or  even  to  another  part  of  the 
same  subject  than  that  under  consideration.  Nor  is  a 
higgledy-piggledy  turning  from  point  to  point  wdthin 
your  proper  scope  suggested ;  rather  an  orderly,  coherent 
procedure,  such  as  will  encourage  the  efforts  of  your  audi- 
ence to  see  the  relations  of  part  to  part. 

To  illustrate  the  foregoing  we  may  turn  to  the  selections,  Who  is 
to  Blame?  and  Await  the  Issue,  in  Chapter  XIV.  Certainly  these 
have  variety,  and  their  unity  is  admirable.    There  is  progress ;  each 

1  Colvir  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior. 


160 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


paragraph  serves  to  give  a  new  view-point;  yet  each  serves  the 
central  thought  and  turns  attention  to  it  again  and  again.  So  evi- 
dent is  the  central  thought  in  each  paragraph  that  careless  sum- 
maries of  the  paragraphs  will  be  much  alike  and  will  really  be 
summaries  of  the  whole.  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address  is  a  re- 
markable example  of  unity  with  progress  and  variety. 

"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on  this 
continent,  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the 
proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

"Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that 
nation,  or  any  nation,  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  en- 
dure. We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have 
come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  for 
those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is 
altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

*'But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we  cannot  conse- 
crate— we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and 
dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it,  far  above  our  poor 
power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long 
remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did 
here.  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly 
advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great 
task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full 
tueasure  of  devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have 
a  new  birth  of  freedom — and  that  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

(Delivered  at  Gettysburg,  November,  1863.) 

Here  is  unity  of  thought :  all  serves  to  develop  the  proposition, 
popular  government  must  be  preserved  in  the  world.  Our  fatherd 
established  a  free  government ;  this  war  is  testing  the  durability  of 
such  government;  we  have  met  to  honor  those  who  have  died  that 
it  may  endure ;  we  cannot  honor  them,  but  we  can  catch  inspiration 
from  them  and  solemnly  resolve  that  free  government  shall  en- 
dure. Almost  every  sentence  directly  echoes  or  amplifies  the 
central  thought.  There  is  unity  of  feeling:  veneration  for  the 
fathers  because  of  the  work  they  wrought  for  free  government ; 
sorrow  for  the  dead,  pride  in  their  courage  and  gratitude  for  their 
sacrifices,  and  with  all  a  glorying  in  the  conviction  that  this  is  a 
struggle  for  human  liberty ; — all  these  blend  into  high  resolve  to 
continue  the  struggle.  That  is  to  say,  there  is  also  unity  of  pur- 
pose :  Lincoln  wishes  to  honor  the  occasion  and  more  to  honor 
the  dead ;  but  these  purposes  accomplished  serve  the  grand  purpose 
of  inspiring  his  hearers  and  the  country  to  greater  sacrifices. 


There  is  a  very  real  temptation  to  attempt  too  much  in 
a  single  speech,  and  the  speaker  often  feels  that  his 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  161 


hearers  ought  to  be  capable  of  understanding  several 
major  thoughts  in  one  period,  and  so  they  are ;  but  still 
experience  proves  that  no  audience  is  likely  to  carry  away 
from  a  discourse  more  than  one  important  thought ;  that 
where  there  is  not  proper  limitation,  elimination  and 
subordination  of  all  to  one  central  thought,  the  audience 
carries  away  little  that  is  clear  and  well  impressed,  and 
that  little  as  often  the  least  important  as  the  most  im- 
portant. In  exposition,  in  argument,  and  particularly 
in  persuasion,  there  is  need  of  pounding  in"  a  single 
idea.  The  hearer,  we  must  always  remember,  cannot, 
like  the  reader,  review  and  ponder  and  so  impress  many 
thoughts  on  his  mind.  The  speaker  must  resist  the 
temptation  to  attempt  too  much,  and  consider  that  he  has 
done  well  if  he  has  clearly  and  forcefully  expressed  one 
thought ;  very  well  indeed,  if  next  day  his  hearers  are  able 
to  state  justly  his  main  idea. 

Some  analogies  may  help  us  to  grasp  the  idea  of  unity.  Al- 
though the  painter  may  give  his  picture  a  wealth  of  detail,  yet  he 
will  strive  to  make  each  detail  accentuate  the  central  figure.  The 
statue  of  Lincoln,  which  stands  in  the  park  which  bears  his  name  in 
Chicago,  has  been  said  by  a  competent  authority  to  owe  much 
of  its  greatness  to  the  fact  that  every  line  of  the  figure  leads  the 
observer's  eye  back  to  Lincoln's  face.  If  this  analogy  seems  to 
suggest  that  one  should  be  forever  circling  about  his  theme  and 
never  going  forward,  let  us  compare  a  speech  to  a  river  which 
grows  broader  and  deeper  as  it  receives  its  tributaries,  some  of 
which  have  their  sources  far  away,  and  bears  all  forward  in  unity. 
Too  many  speeches  are  like  a  stream  flowing  into  a  desert,  throw- 
ing off  one  branch  here  and  another  there,  until  all  is  lost  in  the 
sand. 

A  few  specific  warnings  may  assist  in  securing  unity. 
Do  not  let  yourself  be  led  astray  by  mere  association  of 
ideas,  such  as  guides  most  conversations.  Each  sentence 
may  be  related  to  its  neighbors,  and  yet  unity  of  the  whole 
be  lacking.    To  give  an  exaggerated  example : 


162 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Speaking  of  California,  I  am  reminded  of  her  great  prune 
orchards.  Now  prunes  properly  prepared  are  an  excellent  food.  I 
do  not  mean  as  boarding-house  keepers  prepare  them.  Boarding 
house  keepers  are  trying  to  give  you  as  little  as  possible  for  your 
money.  One  can  hardly  blame  them  either,  with  the  high  cost  of 
living,  which  does  not  seem  after  all  to  be  lowered  by  the  new 
tariff  law.  We  had  great  hopes  of  better  times  when  Wilson 
put  his  measures  through ;  but  now  it  looks  as  if  the  House  would 
go  Republican  this  fall.  But  speaking  of  California,  the  Progres- 
sives  and  the  women  make  that  state  doubtful.  I  don't  know  about 
women's  suffrage,  etc.,  etc. 

Absurd,  do  you  say  ?  Of  course,  but  very  easy  to  fall 
into,  and  not  much  worse  than  the  production  of  a  dis- 
tinguished preacher  who,  declaring  that  Christianity  must 
be  militant,  turned  to  the  militant  suffragettes  for  illus- 
tration and  proceeded  for  several  minutes  to  defend  them, 
till  the  point  supposedly  being  illustrated  was  quite 
swamped. 

Again,  do  not  think  you  have  unity  because  all  you  say 
is  or  can  be  related  to  one  subject.  You  might  say  a 
thousand  things  about  Lincoln  that  are  not  clearly  re- 
lated to  the  particular  theme,  Lincoln's  education.  Per- 
haps many  of  those  things  could  be  twisted  into  some 
semblance  of  a  relation  to  his  education;  yet  upon  the 
whole  they  would  not  serve  to  develop  your  main  thought, 
or  the  right  mood,  or  make  for  the  end  in  view.  And 
many  of  the  ideas  that  might  be  forced  into  support  of 
the  central  thought,  are  not  worth  while  for  the  purpose 
in  hand.  Unity  requires  elimination  as  well  as  subordi- 
nation, and  many  an  interesting  fact,  or  seemingly  bril- 
liant thought  or  expression,  must  be  ruthlessly  sacrificed. 
Unfortunately  few  of  us  have  the  courage  of  our  judg- 
ment in  this  sort  of  self-sacrifice ;  but  the  practical  ques- 
tion is,  Does  this  detail  serve  the  purpose?  When  in 
doubt,  omit, 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


163 


Some  preachers  make  the  mistake  of  assuming  that  any  thought 
which  can  be  drawn  from  their  text  has  proper  place  in  their  ser- 
mon. I  heard  a  preacher  and  lecturer  of  some  note  preaching  on 
the  story  of  Caleb  and  the  other  spies  who  were  sent  by  jNloses  to 
investigate  the  land  of  Canaan.i  After  a  discourse  which  touched 
on  everything  which  chanced  to  be  in  the  Doctor's  mind  that  morn- 
ing, he  drew  these  three  lessons :  1.  It  is  sometimes  a  duty  to  be  a 
spy.  Spying  is  not  muckraking.  2.  Those  who  make  ventures  of 
faith  are  rewarded.    3.  The  best  years  of  life  come  after  fifty. 

The  speaker,  then,  should  ordinarily  narrow  his  theme 
and  strive  to  hold  attention  to  a  single  idea.  If  this 
results  in  monotony  or  tiresome  repetition,  it  is  because 
the  speaker  is  not  skilful ;  he  is  not  profiting  by  the  les- 
son of  variety  in  unity.  It  is  also  probable  that  his  mind 
is  not  richly  furnished  with  materials,"  and  that  for 
lack  of  sufficient  analysis  he  has  not  viewed  his  subject 
in  its  various  aspects  and  relations. 

Simplicity.  Both  Genung  and  Hart,  authorities  on 
rhetoric,  say  that  unity  and  simplicity  are  the  most  es* 
sential  elements  in  oratorical  style.  These  are  closely 
related ;  yet  a  speech  or  a  sentence  may  be  both  perfectly 
unified  and  very  complex.  We  recall  the  need  for  econo- 
mizing the  hearer's  interpreting  power.  We  may  bor- 
row from  Genung :  - 

' '  Words  from  the  every-day  vocabulary,  simplicity  and 
directness  of  phrase,  a  strong  and  pointed  sentence  struc- 
ture, an  ordering  of  parts  made  lucid  by  marked  indica- 
tions of  plan  and  consecutiveness,  reasoning  where  there 
is  only  one  step  from  premise  to  conclusion  and  no  solu- 
tion is  left  obscure  or  in  long  suspense, — these  are  the 
economizing  agencies  which  adapt  oratorical  style  to  pop- 
ular apprehension. ' ' 

The  plan  of  a  speech  should  be  simple  and  easily  com- 
prehended.   The  sentences  should  not  be  involved  or 


1  Numlersj  13. 


2  Working  Principles,  p.  G53, 


164 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


made  heavy  with  many  modifiers ;  but  there  is  little  use 
in  making  dogmatic  statements  in  regard  to  the  respective 
merits  of  long  and  short  sentences,  or  loose  and  periodic. 
The  question  in  regard  to  any  sentence  is,  "Will  it  be 
readily  grasped  ?  A  sentence  may  be  very  long  and  have 
many  clauses,  and  yet  be  easy  for  the  hearer.  The  last 
sentence  of  Who  is  to  Blame?  is  an  example;  but  the 
second  sentence  in  the  same  paragraph  has  made  much 
trouble. ,  We  may  say  that  sentences  which  require  the 
hearer  to  carry  forward  much  matter  of  which  the  bear- 
ing is  not  evident  immediately,  will  weary  an  audience,  if 
much  employed.    (See  examples  in  Chapter  XIII.) 

Coherence.  Closely  related  to  unity  and  simplicity  is 
coherence.  Tp  cohere  is  to  stick  together.  In  coherent 
composition  the  relation  of  each  part  to  its  neighbors  and 
ta  the  central  thought  is  unmistakable.  This  would  seem 
to  be  the  requirement  of  unity,  but  the  emphasis  is  upon 
unmistakable.  Not  only  should  every  sentence  and  para- 
graph have  a  proper  relation,  but  this  should  be  made 
plain,  in  order  that  attention  shall  not  be  wasted. 

In  securing  coherence,  much  is  gained  by  making  a 
clear  plan,  with  main-heads  showing  clearly  their  rela- 
tion to  each  other  and  to  the  theme,  and  with  each  sub- 
head clear  in  its  relation  to  its  main-head.  Most  stress  is 
laid  by  the  authorities,  perhaps,  upon  clear  sequence  of 
ideas,  as  shown  by  clear  transitions  from  sentence  to 
sentence  and  from  paragraph  to  paragraph.    A  review  of 

college  orations"  shows  that  a  too  common  method  of 
seeking  force,  a  sort  of  snapping,  crackling  force,  is  by 
trimming  out  connective  words  and  phrases.  These  have 
been  called  the  hooks  and  eyes  of  style,"  and  cannot  be 
dispensed  with.  In  listening  to  such  speeches  one  has 
difficulty  in  seeing  the  relation  of  sentences  while  keep- 
ing up  with  the  speaker;  and  often  one  finds  on  exam- 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  165 


ination,  that  this  disconnected  method  of  composing  has 
encouraged  the  speaker  in  stringing  together  snappy" 
sentences  which  are  not  well  related.    For  example : 

'*0n  Virginia's  historic  soil  has  been  proved  the  fact 
that  Revolution  may  be  but  a  stepping  stone  for  Evolu- 
tion. Man  is  the  center  of  all  evolution.  His  moral 
growth  or  decay  is  irresistible.  Innumerable  problems 
of  human  progress  are  the  unwelcome  inheritance  of 
every  generation.  To  ignore  these  problems  is  fatal. 
America  is  rousing  from  a  moral  lethargy;  a  thrilling 
spirit  of  reform  typifies  the  present  age.  The  funda- 
mental evil  of  American  society  is  the  industrial  basis 
upon  which  it  stands.  The  State,  institutions  and  men 
are  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  the  almighty  dollar. 
What  are  the  results  of  this  standard,  what  does  it  in- 
volve, and  what  is  the  remedy  ? ' ' 

We  shall  dwell  in  Chapter  XIII  upon  the  effect  of 
echoes,  ^Hhe  connective  tissue  of  language,"  in  binding  to- 
gether a  speech.  Their  use  is  especially  notable  in  the 
Gettysburg  Address.  Another  means  is  the  use  of 
parallel  constructions ;  that  is,  giving  similar  form  to 
phrases  of  similar  significance.^  Wendell  speaks  of  ^Hhe 
amazing  value  of  parallel  construction,"  and  he  illus- 
trates with  the  Lord^s  Prayer.  A  study  of  a  master  of 
speech  composition,  like  Wendell  Phillips,  will  reveal 
much  use  of  connective  words,  echoes  and  parallel  con- 
structions. I  have  chosen  the  following  passage,^  not  be- 
cause it  is  the  most  remarkable  for  coherence  that  could 
be  found,  but  because  it  combines  coherence  with  the 
abrupt  force  sought  in  the  excerpt  above. 

**In  this  mass  of  ignorance,  weakness,  and  quarrel,  one 
keen  eye  saw  hidden  the  elements  of  union  and  strength. 
With  rarest  skill  he  called  them  forth  and  marshaled 

1  Wendell,  English  Composition,  p.  1.37. 

2  From  Phillips's  oration  on  Daniel  O'Connell. 


166 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


them  into  rank.  Then  this  one  man,  without  birth, 
wealth,  or  office,  in  a  land  ruled  by  birth,  wealth,  and 
office,  molded  from  these  unsuspected  elements  a  power 
which,  overawing  king,  senate,  and  people,  wrote  his 
single  will  on  the  statute-book  of  the  most  obstinate  na- 
tion in  Europe.  Safely  to  emancipate  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics, and  in  spite  of  Saxon-Protestant  hate,  to  lift  all 
Ireland  to  the  level  of  British  citizenship — this  was  the 
problem  which  statesmanship  and  patriotism  had  been 
seeking  for  two  centuries  to  solve.  For  this  blood  had 
been  poured  out  like  water.  On  this  the  genius  of  Swift, 
the  learning  of  Molyneux,  and  the  eloquence  of  Bushe, 
Grattan,  and  Burke  had  iDcen  wasted.  English  leaders 
ever  since  Fox  had  studied  this  problem  anxiously.  They 
saw  that  the  safety  of  the  empire  was  compromised.  At 
one  or  two  critical  moments  in  the  reign  of  George  III, 
one  signal  from  an  Irish  leader  would  have  snapped  the 
chain  that  bound  Ireland  to  his  throne.  His  ministers 
recognized  it ;  and  they  tried  every  expedient,  exhausted 
every  resource,  dared  every  peril,  kept  oaths  or  broke 
them  in  order  to  succeed.  All  failed;  and  not  only 
failed,  but  acknowledged  they  could  see  no  way  in  which 
success  could  ever  be  achieved. 

' '  0  'Council  achieved  it.  Out  of  the  darkness,  he  called 
forth  light.  Out  of  this  most  abject,  weak,  and  pitiable 
of  kingdoms,  he  made  a  power,  and  dying,  he  left  in 
Parliament  a  specter  which,  unless  appeased,  pushes 
Whig  and  Tory  ministers  alike  from  their  stools." 

Another  important  consideration  in  securing  coherence 
is  point  of  view.  Rhetoricians  ^  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  in  describing  a  scene  one  should  view  all  from  one 
spot ;  or,  if  one  changes  view-point,  one  should  give  due 
warning.  If  you  were  describing  the  campus  as  seen 
from  the  south  end,  and  without  warning  began  to  de- 
scribe things  as  seen  from  the  east,  your  hearers  would 
be  in  a  fine  state  of  confusion.  You  will  see,  too,  that 
many  and  rapid  changes,  even  with  warning,  will  be 

1  Cf.  Baldwin,  Composition,  Oral  and  Written,  ij.  60, 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  167 


troublesome.  Now,  the  same  confusion  will  arise  if  you 
try  to  speak  of  arbitration  as  seen  by  a  soldier,  a  busi- 
ness man,  a  humanitarian,  all  at  once;  or  if  you  too 
rapidly  shift  from  one  to  the  other.  Unnoted  shift  from 
past  to  present  or  to  future  is  also  troublesome. 

Emphasis.  A  large  element  in  speech-making,  as  re- 
gards both  composition  and  delivery,  is  emphasis.  Em- 
phasis attracts  attention,  and  right  emphasis  attracts  it 
to  what  should  especially  be  noticed.  The  term  might 
be  extended  to  cover  this  entire  chapter.  In  its  narrower 
sense,  emphasis  is  largely  a  matter  of  proportion,  giving 
due  space  to  the  different  ideas  of  a  speech,  h6lding  at- 
tention longest  upon  what  is  chiefly  to  be  impressed. 
For  this  purpose  we  use  reiteration  and  amplification,  as 
has  been  explained.  The  longer  a  topic  is  held  before 
attention, — genuine  attention, — the  more  importance  it 
gains  in  the  hearer's  mind,  assuming  that  attention  does 
not  reveal  its  inherent  unimportance.  Sufficient  warn- 
ings have  been  given  against  the  overuse  of  any  of  the 
means  of  attracting  and  sustaining  attention,  such  as  spe- 
cific enumeration  and  illustration,  at  points  where  em- 
phasis is  not  desired. 

Delivery.  The  resources  of  delivery  are,  of  course, 
available  for  making  a  speech  coherent  and  giving  due 
emphasis  to  its  parts ;  but  the  speaker  should  not  compose 
sentences  and  paragraphs  which  throw  the  burden  of 
labored  stress,  inflection,  etc.,  upon  delivery.  New- 
comer says,^  ^^One  of  the  tests  of  good  style  is  the  ease 
with  which  a  reader,  reading  the  work  aloud  without 
previous  acquaintance,  will  properly  stress  .  .  .  the  dif- 
ferent sentence  elements."  It  is  very  commonly  true 
that  beginners  will  write  their  opening  sentences  so  that 
their  speech  subject  is  swamped  in  the  midst  of  numerous 

1  Elements  of  Rhetoric,  p.  192. 


168 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


clauses.  ''Seek  so  to  place  words,"  says  Genung,^  ''that 
they  shall  emphasize  themselves. ' '  It  may  be  added  that 
the  practice  of  deliver}^,  ^nd  especially  the  interpretation 
and  delivery  of  selections,  tends  to  develop  a  sense  of 
sound  emphasis  in  composition. 

An  admirable  treatment  of  emphasis  in  composition  will  be  found 
in  Baldwin's  Composition  Oral  and  Written^  p.  19.  Especially  good 
is  his  illustration  of  bad  emphasis  by  developing  in  the  Gettysburg 
Address  the  less  essential  part  devoted  to  the  battle  and  shortening 
the  appeal  to  the  audience. 

"Use  of  texts  on  composition.  I  have  no  intention  of 
giving  in  this  text  a  systematic  treatment  of  composi- 
tion. I  only  wish  to  emphasize  those  elements  which 
class-room  experience  indicates  as  needing  special  atten- 
tion. A  fair  degree  of  knowledge  of  composition  on  the 
part  of  my  readers  must  be  assumed.  For  those  lacking 
due  preparation,  and  for  all  with  regard  to  certain  ques- 
tions, the  references  to  other  texts  are  given.  "We  should 
note  that  all  that  writers  on  composition  have  to  offer 
on  force,  strength,  energy  or  vigor  of  style,  however 
named,  is  germane  to  the  subject  of  attention;  for  as  we 
recall  from  "Wendeirs  definition,^  "force,  the  emotional 
quality  of  style,''  is  "the  distinguishing  quality  of  a  style 
that  holds  attention. ' ' 

Much  that  comes  under  this  head  has  already  been  presented.  I 
advise  you  to  look  up  the  references  given,  and  in  particular  to  read 
the  chapter  on  Force  in  WendelFs  English  Composition^  and  the 
chapters  on  Energy  in  Phelps  and  Frink's  Rhetoric.  The  latter 
work  has  the  advantage  of  being  written  from  the  speaker's  view- 
point.   It  will  be  worth  while  to  run  over  some  of  its  headings  here : 

First,  the  speaker  must  have  forcible  thought,  thought  to  which 
forcible  expression  is  appropriate.  *'Do  not  take  a  sledge  hammer 
to  kill  a  fly."  Then  one  should  write  or  speak  with  enthusiasm. 
**Logic  set  on  fire,"  is  one  of  the  definitions  of  eloquence.  It  is  im- 
portant, further  that  one  prepare  with  audience  in  mind,  and  also 

1  Practical  Rhetoric,  p.  170.       2  English  Composition,  p.  23G. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  169 


have  some  immediate  object  in  view.  But  enthusiasm  must  be 
accompanied  by  self-possession.  Delirium  and  convulsions  are  not 
strength.  Dr.  Phelps  proceeds  to  discuss  energy  as  affected  by 
words,  taking  up  pure  words,  Saxon  words,  specific  words,  short 
words,  onomatopoetic  words.  He  next  considers  the  force  of  con- 
ciseness, and  the  weakness  of  verbosity.  The  arrangement  of  a 
sentence  for  emphasis,  and  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of 
loose  and  periodic  sentences  are  treated.  A  chapter  is  given  to 
figurative  language  as  an  element  in  energy ;  but  by  figures  Dr. 
Phelps  refers  to  certain  methods  of  expression  which  later  writers 
do  not  class  as  figures, — climax,  antithesis,  interrogation,  colloquy, 
hyperbole,  irony,  exclamation,  vision  and  apostrophe.  Plainly 
enough  all  these  are  means  of  winning  special  attention.  We  need 
^ote  only  the  first  three  of  these  ^o-called  figures  of  speech. 

Climax  is  more  important  in  speaking  than  in  writing. 
It  seems  to  answer  an  instinctive  demand  of  the  hearer, 
and  is  the  natural  expression^of  one  who  warms  to  his 
work.    Anticlimax,  when  it  is  not  burlesque,  as  in  ^*he 
had  a  good  conscience  and  a  Eoman  nose,''  is  always 
weak.    To  proceed  without  increase  of  force  gives  much 
!  the  same  effect  as  anticlimax.    As  a  rule,  the  order  of 
i  climax  should  be  followed  within  the  sentence,  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  sentences  and  in  the  plan  of  a  speech, 
though  there  may  often  be  good  reason  for  departing 
'  from  the  rule.   Wendell  says^  that  anticlimax  is  essen- 
!  tially  false  emphasis ;  and  a  speaker  realizes  this  in  de- 
I  livery,  when  his  instinct  prompts  him  to  stress  the  ends 
of  sentences,  paragraphs  and  speeches. 

Antithesis  is  based  on  contract,  with  the  force  of  which 
t  we  are  already  familiar.    The  antithetic  structure  makes 
a  contrast  sharper. 

*'A  soft  answer  turneth  a-^ay  wrath ;  but  a  grievous  word 
stirreth  up  anger." — Proverbs. 

"The  Puritans  hated  bear-baiting,  not  because  it  gave  pain  to  the 
bear,  but  because  it  gave  pleasure  to  the  spectators." — Macaulay. 

**It  is  because  Shakespeare  dares,  and  dares  very  frequently. 
...  simply  to  be  foolish,  that  he  is  so  preeminently  wise ;  the 
others  try  to  be  always  wise,  and,  alas!  it  is  not  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  antithesis." — Saintshury, 

^English  Composition,  p.  133. 


170 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Interrogation.  Says  Phelps:  ''Few  expedients  of 
speech  so  simple  as  this  are  so  effective  in  giving  vigor  to 
style.  Composition  comparatively  dull  may  be  made 
comparatively  vivacious,  and  so  far  forcible,  by  a  liberal 
u^e  of  interrogatives.  .  .  .  Put  it  to  the  hearer  as  if  he 
must  sharpen  it  by  a  response."  Plainly  enough,  ques- 
tions tend  to  bring  the  conversational  quality  into  deliv- 
ery, to  bring  speaker  and  hearer  into  contact.  The  virtue 
of  interrogation  is  in  its  prompting  the  hearer  to  think 
for  himself.    Mr.  Bryan  says  of  it :  ^ 

''The  interrogatory  is  frequently  employed  by  the 
orator,  and  when  wisely  used  is  irresistible.  What  dy- 
namic power,  for  instance,  there  is  in  that  question  pro- 
pounded by  Christ,  'What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? '  Volumes  could 
not  have  presented  so  effectively  the  truth  that  he  sought 
to  impress  upon  his  hearers. ' ' 

The  effective  phrase.  There  are  college  students  who 
are  far  too  fond  of  striking  phrases,  and  who  carry  their 
labors  to  the  point  of  affectation.  They  frequently  try 
to  make  expression  take  the  place  of  thought.  It  has 
been  my  fortune  to  meet,  in  large  universities  with  many 
technical  courses,  more  of  those  who  despise  any  careful 
attention  to  phraseology.  "What 's  the  odds  if  people 
only  get  it  ? ' '  they  demand ;  and  do  not  see  that  they  beg 
the  question.  If  one's  words  are  not  precise,  or  are  of- 
fensive to  the  taste  of  one's  hearers,  if  one's  con- 
structions are  cloudy  and  weak,  then  one's  hearers  do 
not  "get  it,"  or  not  with  full  force.  The  idea  of  effi- 
ciency, which  has  taken  a  strong  hold  upon  present-day 
technical  students,  can  be  applied  to  language.    The  way 

1  World's  Famous  Orations,  Introduction. 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  ITl 


we  do  things  counts.  Those  who  can  appreciate  good 
form  in  pulling  an  oar  or  in  driving  a  golf  ball,  ought  not 
to  be  at  a  loss  to  realize  the  importance  of  the  manner  of 
expressing  ideas. 

There  is  a  false  notion  of  sincerity  which  lies  back  of 
the  notion  that  it  is  unworthy  of  a  man  to  try  to  say 
things  well.  *  ^  If  a  man  has  a  worthy  thing  to  say, ' '  ex- 
claimed Henry  Van  Dyke,^  shall  he  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  find  a  worthy  way  to  say  itT'  AVhat  is  it  we 
instinctively  object  to?  I  do  not  believe  the  man  lives 
who  does  not  respond  to  really  good  expression.  Is  not 
our  objection  to  the  effort  to  make  a  commonplace  idea 
sound  profound,  the  use  of  the  ^ ^feeble  forcible"  in  an 
effort  to  make  a  puny  thought  startling  ?  The  refusal  to 
say  a  simple  thing  simply  produces  bombast,  against 
which  we  properly  react.  There  are  those,  also,  who 
carefully  avoiding  the  ^^highfalutin,"  and  even  honest 
eloquence,  yet  indulge  in  so  much  cleverness  that  one 
feels  they  are  trying  to  be  smart."  They  attract  at- 
tention less  to  their  ideas  than  to  their  way  of  expressing 
them.  And  this,  like  a  showy  gesture,  is  both  ineffective 
and  in  bad  taste.  It  is  neither  the  ''big  bow-wow,"  once 
so  common  in  American  oratory,  nor  affectedly  clever 
expression,  that  is  urged  upon  you;  but  just  an  honest 
effort  to  give  effective,  fitting  expression  to  your  thoughts 
and  feelings,  so  that  without  waste  they  shall  hold  and 
impress  the  attention  of  your  audience.  And  if  your 
words,  without  attracting  attention  to  their  beauty 
and  rhythm,  give  your  audience  pleasure,  so  much  the 
better. 

Some  stand  by  the  great  half  truth :    If  you  think 

1  Caught  from  a  sermon  and  perhaps  not  exactly  Dr.  Van  Dyke's 
words. 


172 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


clearly  and  vigorously,  you  will  express  yourself  clearly 
and  vigorously.  It  is  true  you  cannot  speak  clearly  and 
vigorously  until  you  so  think,  and  that  clear,  vigorous 
thought  will  tend  to  secure  fiting  expression ;  but  there  is 
also  need  for  study  and  strenuous  endeavor.  And  we 
must  remember  that  the  very  effort  for  clear,  vigorous 
expression  reacts  to  clarify  and  strengthen  our  thought. 
We  should  remember,  too.  that  we  are  students,  not 
masters ;  and  that  if  we  are  to  be  ready  in  the  crises  we 
look  forward  to,  when  with  smoothly  working  minds  and 
ready  command  of  ample  vocabularies,  we  shall  meet  un- 
expected emergencies,  we  shall  have  to  train  ourselves 
well.  Those  who  would  say.  Just  be  natural,  were  Vv^ell 
answered  by  Professor  George  L.  Burr  in  his  address 
upon  Robert  Collier,  the  famous  preacher,  who  in  his 
eighties  could  still  hold  the  delighted  attention  of  his 
congregations: 

^'I  know  thoughtless  folk  who  found  the  secret  of  his 
power  in  what  they  called  his  *  naturalness.'  *Why,  to 
him  it  was  all  natural;  he  only  needed  to  be  himself.' 
My  friends,  I  knew  him  well.  ...  Do  you  think  that 
to  be  natural  costs  nothing?  Why,  just  to  tell  the  truth 
is  consummate  art.  Bluntness  is  not  truth-telling. 
Bluntness  is  for  those  too  lazy  to  tell  the  precise  truth. 
.  .  .  Read  those  letters  of  his  early  manhood  .  .  .  and 
compare  them  with  the  ripened  magic  of  his  later 
speech." 

Those  who  confuse  muddled  thinking  and  muddy  expression  with 
sincerity  may  learn  again  from  that  book  of  wisdom,  Alice  in  Won- 
derland: 

*'Thpn  you  should  say  what  you  mean,"  the  March  Hare  w^ent  on. 
*'I  do,"  Alice  hastily  replied ;  "at  loa^.t — at  least  I  mean  what 
I  say — that's  the  same  thing,  you  kno'W." 

"Not  the  same  thing  a  bit !"  said  the  Hatter.    "Why,  you  might 

J'ust  as  well  say  that  'I  see  what  I  eat*  is  the  same  as  *I  eat  what 
see* 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE 


173 


Slang.  There  are  some  who  seem  to  have  no  forceful 
way  of  expressing  themselves  save  in  slang.  Slang  is  a 
matter  to  be  treated  with  common  sense.  We  must  admit 
that  its  use  is  not  a  crime  and  that  it  is  sometimes  ef- 
fective. Nevertheless,  I  advise  the  young  speaker 
strongly  against  any  considerable  indulgence  in  slang. 
First,  we  musT  recognize  that  there  are  going  to  be  many 
times  when  slang  will  be  unwise  and  inappropriate.  Yet 
we  are  such  creatures  of  habit  that,  if  we  use  it  habitu- 
ally, we  shall  with  difficulty  avoid  slang  when  we  stand 
up  to  speak  extemporaneously.  And  the  effort  to  do  so 
will  greatly  restrain  our  freedom.  We  shall  be  at  a  loss 
for  words.  Our  sentences  will  frame  themselves  for  our 
customary  slang,  which  will  either  pop  out  in  spite  of  us, 
or  we  shall  have  to  hem  and  haw  and  start  anew.  If  we 
cannot  leave  off  our  slang  altogether,  let  us  at  least  make 
a  practice  of  leaving  it  out  of  our  speech  upon  the  plat- 
form ;  let  slang  have  no  part  in  our  platform  conscious- 
ness. At  most,  let  us  use  slang  only  when  we  are  sure 
that  no  good  English  expression  will  do  as  well. 

In  the  second  place,  we  must  recognize  that  the  con- 
stant use  of  slang  limits  our  vocabulary.  The  English 
language  has  resources  never  dreamed  of  by  the  slangy 
person.  He  would  need  several  good  English  expres- 
sions to  convey  all  the  meanings  and  shades  of  meaning 
which  he  covers  with  ' '  a  peach, ' '  or  ' '  going  some. ' '  And 
mind  you,  this  use  of  a  single  term  for  many  shades  of 
meaning  indicates  and  encourages  lack  of  discrimination 
in  thinking.  In  the  third  place,  we  must  recognize  that 
what  seems  very  effective  to  some  may  be  very  ineffective 
and  even  repulsive  to  those  of  better  taste  and  judg- 
ment. That  one  may  get  a  laugh  by  an  atrocious  bit  of 
slang  does  not  mean  that  it  has  served  his  real  purpose. 


174 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


There  are  many  atrocious  ways  of  drawing  a  laugh  f ron: 
an  audience, — sometimes  a  laugh  from  the  more  vulgar 
portion  while  the  rest  shiver.  We  should  notice,  of 
coilrse,  that  there  is  slang  and  slang ;  that  some  is  almost 
necessary  in  discussing  certain  themes  in  certain  places, 
and  that  in  any  case  there  is  a  wide  difference  between 
such  mild  slang  as  something  doing"  and  such  a  sense- 
less vulgarity  as  ''feed  your  face.''  But  one  who  in- 
dulges greatly  in  slang  is  not  likely  to  have  a  fine  taste 
in  the  matter. 

Work  to  do.  The  student  at  this  stage  may  make 
speeches  in  each  of  which  he  gives  special  thought  to  one 
of  the  suggestions  of  this  chapter.  Especially  profitable 
will  it  be  to  select  topics  unpromising  from  the  stand- 
point of  interest,  with  a  view  to  evoking  as  much  interest 
as  possible.  He  will  profit  also  by  the  study  of  the  ex- 
perience of  others.  For  this  purpose  I  advise  at  this 
point  the  study  of  the  so-called  occasional  addresses, 
rather  than  speeches  that  have  responded  to  personal  or 
national  crises;  for  crises  are  likely  to  supply  interest 
regardless  of  the  skill  of  the  speaker. 

For  the  purpose,  Baker's  Forms  of  PulUc  Address  will  be  found 
as  good  as  any  single  volume.  Wood's  After-Dinner  Speeches  is  an 
interesting  collection.  Reed's  Modern  Eloquence,  in  ten  volumes, 
contains  speeches  of  all  kinds  in  great  number. 

Conclusion.  To  lay  down  a  few  simple,  arbitrary  rules 
for  securing  attention  would  seem  very  helpful,  and 
would  better  satisfy  a  certain  type  of  mind  than  a  dis- 
cussion of  principles;  yet  is  it  not  manifestly  a  mistake 
to  be  dogmatic  about  matters  so  dependent  upon  condi- 
tions ?  '  *  It  is  better  not  to  know  so  much  than  to  know 
so  much  that  isn't  so."  My  only  hope  is  that  the  stu- 
dent of  this  chapter  will  become  intelligent  in  regard  to 
its  problems.    I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  one  should  use 


ATTENTION  OF  THE  AUDIENCE  175 

all  or  any  of  the  methods  of  this  chapter  in  a  given  case  jjio  ^ 
but  I  am  confident  that  the  principles  will  be  found  help- 
ful in  most  cases.    Especially  do  I  hope  that  they  will  aid 
in  the  interpretation  of  individual  experience. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  EXPOSITORY  SPEECH 

The  second  pui'pose  of  a  speaker,  in  our  classification, 
is  to  make  clear,  to  explain.  Exposition  is  not  always 
easily  distingnished  from  other  forms  of  discourse ;  but 
it  is  sufficiently  accurate  to  say  that  when  the  chief  pur- 
pose of  a  speech  is  understanding,  the  speech  is  exposi- 
tory, though  the  means  may  include  narration,  descrip- 
tion, and  even  argument. 

Importance  of  exposition.  There  are  good  reasons  why 
the  student  of  public  speaking  should  give  some  atten- 
tion to  exposition,  although  to  convince  and  to  persuade 
are  more  often  his  purposes.  First,  there  are  many 
times  in  which  understanding  is  his  final  aim.  This  is 
particularly  true  in  lectures,  and  is  often  true  in  busi- 
ness affairs.  Secondly,  exposition  is  often  the  basis  of 
speeches  which  aim  at  conviction  or  persuasion.  Most 
disputes  are  due  to  different  understandings  of  facts. 
There  can  be  no  sound  argument  without  clear  exposition 
as  its  foundation.  Sometimes  all  one  has  to  do  to  win  an 
argument,  is  to  set  forth  lucidly  the  facts  in  the  case. 
It  is  said  that  judges  would  often  stop  Lincoln  after  his 
statement  of  fact  and  before  he  began  to  argue,  with 
'*Now  we  will  hear  the  other  side."  To  convince  a  man- 
ager that  he  should  adopt  a  certain  machine  may  re- 
quire only  that  you  demonstrate  its  operatioa  to  him. 
Thirdly,  the  student  finds  the  exposition  of  subjects  in 
which  he  is  interested  quite  as  good  as  any  other  kind  of 


THE  EXPOSITORY  SPEECH  177 


speech  for  helping  him  to  forget  himself.  There  are 
probably  more  students  interested  in  subjects  adapted  to 
exposition  than  in  those  adapted  to  argument;  but  all 
kinds  should  be  used  in  practice. 

Speeches  purely  expository.  In  taking  up  the  explana- 
tory speech,  I  advise  that  the  first  attempt  be  pure  expo- 
sition; that  is,  a  speech  in  which  understanding  is  the 
final  aim.  If  you  choose  to  explain  the  Diesel  engine, 
stop  with  explanation  and  avoid  all  argument  that  it  is 
better  than  another  type.  If  you  choose  to  explain  the 
ethical  doctrine  of  hedonism,  do  not  attempt  to  prove  it 
right  or  wrong.  Keep  as  far  from  advocacy  as  if  you 
were  explaining  the  seasons  on  Mars.  This  does  not 
mean  that  you  must  be  dull  and  cold.  You  should  be 
highly  interested ;  but  your  dominant  emotion  should  be 
desire  to  make  your  hearers  understand.  There  is  a 
reason  back  of  this  suggestion.  If  you  are  using  your 
explanation  as  an  argument,  you  are  likely  to  neglect 
clearness  and  also  to  warp  your  exposition  in  your  desire 
to  advocate.  You  should  learn  to  make  the  most  impar- 
tial explanations.  Indeed,  you  should  make  an  impar- 
tial explanation,  even  w^hen  you  are  to  base  argument 
upon  it.  Authorities  agree  to  the  doctrine,  which  young 
speakers  find  hard  to  accept  and  older  ones  to  practise, 
that  the  introductory  and  incidental  explanations  in  de- 
bate should  be  without  bias ;  not  only  because  this  is  the 
honest  method,  but  also  because  it  is  most  effective  to 
give  an  exposition  which  the  other  party  must  acknowl- 
edge fair. 

Argumentative  speeches  expository  in  method.  After 
one  has  practised  somewhat  upon  the  purely  expository 
speech,  one  may  take  up  speeches  in  which  exposition  is 
used  as  a  method  of  convincing  or  persuading ;  for  exam- 
ple, one  may  explain  the  commission  form  of  government 


178 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


in  such  a  way  that  its  virtues  become  apparent.  We  can 
see  at  once  the  temptation  to  distort  the  facts ;  but  prop- 
erly used  this  is  as  legitimate  as  any  method  of  argument. 

Methods  of  exposition.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss 
at  length  in  this  text  the  methods  of  exposition.  The 
essential  element  is  clearness,  to  which  we  have  already 
given  attention.  First,  one  should  analyze  the  topic  or 
process  or  problem  to  be  explained,  in  order  to  determine 
the  elements  that  need  attention,  and  to  make  under- 
standing easier  by  the  consideration  of  but  one  feature  at 
a  time.  Then  there  is  need  of  clear  definition  of  such 
terms  as  are  unfamiliar,  or  are  used  in  special  senses,  or 
terms  of  which  the  popular  understanding  is  vague  or 
confused.^  A  third  means  of  explaining  is  by  giving  ex- 
amples, as  in  the  actual  exhibition  of  articles  or  pictorial 
representations  of  them,  or  by  citing  instances.  Much 
that  has  been  said  of  illustration  is  applicable  here.  Of 
great  importance  in  exposition  is  the  comparing  and  con- 
trasting of  what  is  to  be  explained  with  what  is  already 
understood,  and  this  suggests  again  the  need  of  knowing 
the  information  and  the  limitations  of  one's  hearers. 
The  English  game  of  football,  says  a  student,  stands  be- 
tween the  American  Association  football  and  basketball. 
Assuming  that  this  is  sound,  and  that  his  hearers  know 
the  games  mentioned,  by  indicating  now  the  points  of 
likeness  and  of  difference,  he  can  give  them  an  under- 
standing of  the  English  game.  This  is  our  standard 
method :  This  unfamiliar  game,  form  of  government,  be- 
lief, automobile  is  like  this  familiar  game,  etc.,  except — . 
Clearly  enough,  the  appeal  to  imagination  is  important 
in  explaining  things  and  processes  not  before  the  eyes. 
The  selection  of  details,  the  order  of  their  presentation, 

1  A  good  example  of  definition  will  be  found  in  Baker's  Principles 
of  Argumentation^  pp.  24-30.  This  is  especially  valuable  as  in- 
dicating the  uses  and  the  limitations  of  the  dictionary. 


THE  EXPOSITORY  SPEECH  179 


the  suppression  of  what  is  not  pertinent  and  helpful, 
unity,  emphasis,  coherence,  point  of  view, — all  these  are 
important  in  exposition. 

For  further  study  I  suggest  the  chapter  on  Clearness  in  Wen- 
dell's English  Composition,  followed  by  what  is  said  on  exposition 
and  the  examples  in  Gardiner's  Forms  of  Prose  Literature,  La- 
mont's  Specimens  of  Exposition,  with  its  introduction,  Genung's 
Working  Principles  of  Rhetoric  and  JelifiCe's  Handbook  of  Exposi- 
tion. A  more  elementary  work,  Elements  of  English  Composition^ 
by  Gardiner,  Kittredge  and  Arnold,  contains  a  simple  treatment 
of  exposition  with  suggestive  examples.  Observe  the  means  by 
which  the  explanations  are  made  interesting ;  and  also  the  use  of 
narration  and  of  charts.  Any  good  work  on  argumentation  will 
furnish  a  treatment  of  exposition  as  an  aid  to  argument. 

Examples  of  exposition  should  be  studied  in  addition  to  those 
in  the  works  referred  to,  which  are  for  the  most  part  not  drawn 
from  speech  literature.  The  lecture  is  the  form  best  adapted  to 
our  purpose.  Find  lectures  that  are  pure  exposition,  and  also 
those  that  utilize  exposition  in  arguments,  such  as  Huxley's  lec- 
tures on  Evolution. 

Pictures,  charts  and  maps.  I  wish  to  make  some 
simple  suggestions  that  are  the  product  of  experience  in 
my  own  classes ;  and  first  in  regard  to  the  use  of  charts 
and  the  like.  These  are  especially  important  in  exposi- 
tion, and  some  explanations  are  impossible  without  them. 
A  plan  of  battle,  a  machine,  or  a  building,  plainly  enough 
need  graphic  representation,  if  accuracy  of  understand- 
ing is  sought.  We  find  too  that  complicated  statistics, 
as  of  the  increase  of  population  or  the  increased  cost  of 
living,  are  better  understood  when  worked  out  in 
'^curves.''  Stereopticon  pictures,  and  even  moving  pic- 
tures, are  likely  to  have  a  large  part  in  instruction  in  the 
future. 

In  using  any  graphic  representation,  be  sure  to  have  it 
large  aud  distinct  enough  for  all  to  see,  else  it  may  prove 
only  an  annoyance.  Superfluity  of  detail  is  a  common 
cause  of  indistinctness.    A  map  with  only  necessary 


180 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


details  and  with  sharp  distinctions  in  colors,  is  better 
adapted  to  public  work  than  the  most  complete  publica- 
tion. It  is  unwise  to  embellish  a  diagram  with  details 
which  are  not  pertinent.  These  are  objectionable,  not 
only  as  decreasing  the  distinctness  of  essential  details, 
but  as  distracting  attention  and  perhaps  provoking  curi- 
osity as  to  where  they  come  into  the  explanation. 

Avoid  complexity  so  far  as  you  can.  That  is,  if  you 
are  explaining  the  steam  engine  to  those  not  learned  in  its 
workings,  present  a  simple  form  of  it,  one  which  embodies 
the  principle  but  lacks  elaboration;  then  if  it  is  desired 
to  explain  the  elaborations,  these  may  be  sketched  in  or 
presented  in  a  series  of  charts. 

President  Schiirman,  in  his  lecture  on  The  Balkan  Wars,  shows 
a  map  of  the  Balkan  countries  before  the  first  war  of  1913  began ; 
another  of  the  boundaries  after  this  war,  with  the  disputed  ter- 
ritory indicated ;  and  a  third  map  of  the  countries  after  the  second 
war. 

A  speaker  who  has  confidence  in  his  handling  of  chalk 
or  crayon,  may  sometimes  find  it  advantageous  to  de- 
velop his  chart  from  the  simplest  outlines  to  its  completed 
form  as  he  speaks.  This  gives  well  the  idea  of  progress 
and  development ;  as  for  instance  in  describing  an  army 's 
campaign.  A  speaker  who  attempts  drawing  on  the 
platform  should  know  precisely  what  he  is  going  to  do, 
what  details  he  is  to  use  and  what  scale  is  needed.  Then 
he  should  practise  the  drawing  to  make  sure  he  can  do  it. 
It  is  well,  if  the  drawing  presents  any  difficulty,  to  pre- 
pare paper  with  the  whole  or  certain  details  and  pivotal 
points  faintly  indicated,  or  with  the  bare  outlines  boldly 
marked. 

There  are  certain  advantages  over  drawing  on  the  plat- 
form, in  a  series  of  prepared  charts.  First,  the  series 
keeps  a  better  means  of  comparison  before  the  audience 


THE  EXPOSITORY  SPEECH  181 


at  all  stages  of  the  speech.  To  attempt  to  indicate  dif- 
ferent stages  with  different  colors  or  other  means  on  one 
chart,  is  usually  confusing.  Secondly,  the  prepared 
charts  are  likely  to  be  better  made.  Thirdly,  drawing 
upon  the  platform  may  attract  too  much  attention  to  it- 
/;elf  as  an  act.  Either  very  clumsy  drawing  or  a  display 
of  skill  may  be  too  interesting,  even  amusing.  Fourthly, 
drawing  which  requires  much  care  may  take  the  speaker's 
attention  unduly  from  his  audience.  These  comments, 
however,  need  deter  no  one  from  a  few  simple  strokes. 
Here,  as  in  all,  the  speaker's  business  is  to  keep  atten- 
tion upon  essentials. 

One  should  resist  the  temptation  to  look  at  a  chart 
when  not  speaking  of  it.  The  young  speaker  especially 
finds  his  chart  a  welcome  refuge  from  the  eyes  of  his 
audiences;  but  also  those  not  embarrassed  find  their 
charts  drawing  them  unduly.  The  audience  is  only  too 
ready  to  look  at  anything  their  attention  is  called  to. 
It  is  often  best  to  keep  charts  out  of  sight  until  they  are 
needed,  and  to  remove  them  from  sight  when  their  use  is 
finished,  unless  to  do  so  distracts  attention  more  than 
their  presence.  A  little  preparatory  ingenuity  may  well 
be  exercised.  Even  when  referring  to  his  chart,  the 
speaker  should  avoid  as  far  as  possible  turning  his  back  to 
his  audience.  A  glance  at  the  chart  is  enough  to  give 
him  his  direction  and  he  can  keep  his  eyes  upon  his 
hearers  most  of  the  time.  He  should  avoid  talking  to 
the  blackboard;  lest  he  become  indistinct  and  lose  touch 
with  his  audience. 

Do  not  stand  between  audience  and  chart  when  it  is  in 
use.  The  speaker  should  stand  to  one  side,  facing  the 
front  as  nearly  as  is  convenient,  and  using  for  pointing 
the  hand  nearest  the  chart ;  that  is,  if  he  is  at  the  right 
of  his  chart  he  should  use  his  left  hand.    It  is  best  in 


182 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


most  cases  to  have  a  pointer,  as  this  helps  in  keeping  out 
of  the  line  of  vision. 

Degree  of  clearness.  Wendell  ^  defines  clearness  as 
^'the  distinguishing  quality  of  a  style  that  cannot  be  mis- 
understood/^ This  sets  up  an  ideal,  but  a  good  ideal  to 
have  in  mind.  Students  of  public  speech  are  apt  to  take 
as  their  standard  a  style  that  can  be  understood,  throwing 
upon  their  hearers  rather  than  assuming  themselves  the 
task  of  making  their  thoughts  as  clear  as  possible.  They 
rarely  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  making  one's  thoughts 
clear.  Painful  experience  brings  home  the  truth  that 
language  is  at  best  but  a  poor  instrument,  that  it  is  in- 
deed difficult  to  tell  the  truth,  and  that  to  convey  fully  an 
idea  above  the  grade  of  ^^It  is  now  ten  o'clock,"  is  a 
marvel.  Words  have  different  shades  of  meaning  in  dif- 
ferent minds,  and  the  prepossessions  of  one's  hearers 
may  make  confusion  of  the  most  careful  statement. 
Those  who  have  an  erroneous  understanding  of  a  matter 
will  often  adapt  a  correct  explanation  to  their  own  mis- 
conception, hearing  what  coincides  and  ignoring  what 
does  not  coincide  with  their  expectations.  It  would  be 
illuminating  for  the  average  student  to  give  a  class  direc- 
tions for  work  and  discover  how  many  different  under- 
standings a  class  of  twenty-five  will  gain.  The  only  safe 
standard  is,  be  as  clear  as  you  can  under  the  circum- 
stances ;  and  what  you  cannot  make  clear,  do  not  attempt. 

Consider  the  audience.  But  clearness  is  a  relative 
matter,  and  the  question  at  once  arises.  Clear  to  whom? 
Must  one  seek  to  be  clear  to  the  youngest  or  least  intelli- 
gent person  present;  so  clear  that  *Hhe  wayfaring  man 
though"  a  fool  need  not  err  therein"?  No,  that  might  be 
to  bore  the  more  intelligent ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  one 
cannot  afford  to  leave  any  large  portion  of  an  audience  in 

1  English  Vompositionj  p.  194. 


THE  EXPOSITORY  SPEECH  183 


the  dark.  There  is  no  rule  to  give ;  one  must  simply  treat 
the  situation  intelligently.  But  if  he  is  simple  and  clear 
and  concrete  in  his  method,  uses  simple,  idiomatic  Eng- 
lish, and  yet  avoids  all  suggestion  of  children's  talk,  he 
can  usually  satisfy  most  of  the  intelligences  in  any  audi- 
ence. 

The  public  speaker  should  eschew  all  affectation  of 
profundity  and  high-sounding  language ;  and  be  as  sim- 
ple as  the  nature  of  his  subject  and  his  purpose  permit. 
In  particular,  he  should  not  indulge  in  that  false  pro- 
fundity which  is  really  only  lack  of  clear  analysis. 

College  students  and  clearness.  My  observation  is  that 
students  are  to  some  extent  unfitted  for  explanation  be- 
fore general  audiences  by  their  school  training.  They 
are  trained  for  many  years  in  explaining  in  recitations, 
reports  and  examinations,  to  teachers  who  understand 
better  than  they  themselves.  In  explaining  to  a  teacher 
the  aim  is  not  really  to  make  clear,  but  to  convince  the 
teacher  that  one  understands.  And  the  teacher,  usually 
unable  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of  one  uninformed, 
pressed  for  time,  and  pleased  with  some  slight  evidence 
of  understanding,  rarely  insists  upon  a  full  explanation. 
As  a  result,  the  student  does  not  come  to  feel  the  need  for 
clear  analysis  (an  analysis  has  usually  been  given  him), 
of  simplifying  terms,  of  finding  the  best  order,  of  repe- 
tition, illustration,  helpful  schemes,  summaries,  and  all 
that  makes  for  clear  exposition  to  those  who  do  not  un- 
derstand in  advance.  When  he  addresses  a  general  au- 
dience, he  gives  a  few  bare  statements  and  wonders  that 
he  is  not  understood. 

Emotion  and  exposition.  Gardiner^  stresses  the  fact 
that  even  in  exposition,  the  coldest  form  of  discourse,  we 
-sannot  disregard  the  feelings  of  our  audience.  By  this 
1  Forms  of  Prose  IMerature,  pp.  56,  61. 


184 


PUBLIC  SPEAKIN( 


he  means  chiefly  that  we  must  make  our  exposition  in- 
teresting. But  our  hearers  may  be  more  than  indiffer- 
ent; they  may  be  prejudiced.  They  may  be  so  accus- 
tomed to  a  certain  way  of  thinking,  or  method,  or 
machine,  that  they  positively  object  to  hearing  of  any 
other.  Audiences  may  easily  be  found  who  would  object 
to  the  most  impartial  attempt  to  expound  to  them  evolu- 
tion, the  peace  propaganda,  or  socialism.  It  may  be 
necessary  before  explanation  is  attempted,  to  interest 
such  an  audience,  perhaps  somewhat  indirectly,  in  the 
distasteful  topic.  In  general,  tact  is  needed.  Tact  may 
be  needed  also  to  avoid  boring  or  even  offending  the 
better  informed  portion  of  an  audience,  while  explaining 
elementary  facts  to  the  less  informed;  and  more  in  cor- 
recting the  mistaken  notions  of  those  who  think  they 
understand.  A  speaker  need  not  say  bluntly  that  his 
audience  is  ignorant;  but  may  present  the  matter  as  if 
reviewing  or  setting  in  order,  or  he  may  say  that  he  will 
state  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  what  many  of  the  audience 
are  probably  familiar  with. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PEBSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT 

It  is  convenient  to  use  the  word  persuasion  when  we 
come  to  treat  of  influencing  conduct.  The  word  is  not 
without  its  difficulties,  since  usage  varies;  yet  there 
seems  to  be  no  good  substitute.  A  review  of  the  au- 
thorities justifies  us  in  accepting  tentatively  Whateley 's  ^ 
definition  of  the  word:  ''Persuasion,  properly  so- 
called,  i.  e.,  the  art  of  influencing  the  will.''  To  influ- 
ence the  v^ill  is  identical  with  influencing  conduct,  and 
includes  inducing  or  checking  single  acts  or  affecting  a 
prolonged  course  of  conduct;  but,  as  we  shall  use  the 
term  persuasion,  it  is  not  limited  t^ooaducing  physical 
acts,  but  include^  changing  thc^niental  attitude,  as  by 
removing  prejudice,  bringing  aoout  a  fair-minded  atti-  > 
tude  tov/ard  a  person,  a  willingness  to  consider  a  proposi-  ■ 
tion,  or  a  desire  to  accent  jt^  The  term  is  broad  enough- : 
to  include  conviction,  but  it  is  convenient  to  use  the  latter 
term  to  designate  the  process  of  ''bringing  any  one  to 
reeogni^^e  the  truth  of  vs^hat  he  has  not  before  accepted."  ^: 

In  tho  usage  of  mauy  persiiarnon  and  convioHon  are  synonyms,  as 
are  also  the  verbs  persuade  anu  convince;  that  is,  persuasion  is 
used  to  cover  the  meanings  ascribed  to  both  above,  though  conviction 
is  liraited  to  inducing  belief.  Thus,  the  'New  Eaglish  Dictionary  de- 
fines persuasion  as  "the  presenting  of  inducements  or  winning  argu- 
ments, the  addressing  of  reasonings,  appeals,  entreaties  to  a  pei-son 
to  do  or  believe  something."  But  when  the  words  are  distinguished, 
they  are  most  often  distinguished  as  above;  and,  al.  least  so  far  as 
the  verbs  are  concerned,  there  is  some  tendency  to  insist  upon  the 

I  Elements  of  Rhetoric,  p.  117.         ^  New  English  Dictionary, 


PUBLIC    ;  KING 

flistinction.  The  same  dictionary  defines  persuade:  *'To  induce  to 
bel}^  i'e  something";  but  adds  that  this  use  is  "somewhat  archaic." 
It  then  gives  the  further  definition :  "To  induce  or  win  to  an  act 
or  a  course  of  action ;  to  draw  the  will  of  another  to  something  by 
inclining  his  judgment  or  desire  to  it;  to  prevail  upon,  or  urge 
successfully  to  do  something."  The  Century  Dictionary  says : 
"To  convince  a  person  is  to  satisfy  his  understanding  as  to  the  truth 
of  a  certain  statement ;  to  persuade  him  is,  by  derivation,  to  affect 
his  will  by  motives,  but  it  has  long  been  used  also  for  convince.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  marked  tendency  now  to  confine  persuade  to  its  own  dis- 
tinctive meaning."  Femald's  Synonyms  distinguishes  thus :  "To 
persuade  is  to  bring  the  will  of  another  to  a  desired  decision  by  some 
influence  exerted  upon  it  short  of  compulsion ;  one  may  be  con- 
vinced that  the  earth  is  round ;  he  may  be  persuaded  to  travel  around 
it."  And  the  following  is  from  Smith's  Synonyms  Discriminated: 
"To  persuade  has  much  in  common  with  convince ;  but  conviction 
is  the  result  of  the  understanding,  persuasion  of  the  will.  .  .  .  We 
are  convinced  of  truth  and  facts.  We  are  persuaded  to  act  and  be- 
have. .  .  .  We  may  be  persuaded  to  act  against  conviction."  In 
dealing  with  words  so  lacking  in  precision,  we  can  only  fix  upon 
meanings  for  ourselves,  preferably  those  supported  by  the  best  usage, 
and  then  try  to  follow  them  consistently. 

Those  to  whom  the  term  persuasion  means  inducing  to  believe 
usually  distinguish  it  from  conviction  by  saying  that  to  persuade  is 
to  secure  belief  by  rather  emotional  methods,  while  to  convince  is 
to  use  logic  and  reasoning.  So  The  Standard  ^Dictionary  says  per- 
suade means  "to  induce  to  believe  willingly."  'Here  we  have,  prob- 
ably, a  hint  of  why  the  words  convince  and  persuade  have  been  con- 
fused :  To  induce  a  man  to  believe  it  is  often  necessary  to  make  him 
willing  to  consider  the  proposition  at  all,  to  remove  prejudice  and 
induce  a  willingness  to  believe.  Now  this  is  a  matter  of  emotional 
attitude,  and  changing  emotional  attitude  is  included  in  the  proper 
work  of  persuasion.  In  this  position  I  have  the  support  of  Baker's 
Principles  of  Argumentation,  in  which  it  is  said  (p.  7)  :  "Convic- 
tion aims  only  to  produce  agreement  between  writer  and  reader; 
persuasion  aims  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  process  of  conviction 
and  to  produce  action  as  the  result  of  conviction."  i 

1  T  am  aware  that  a  seemingly  simple  way  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot 
of  these  entwined  meanings  is  to  declare  that  inducing  to  believe 
and  to  act  are  one  and  the  same  thing.  I  admit  that  we  secure  the 
two  ends  by  much  the  same  processes,  but  that  does  not  make  them 
identical.  It  seems  to  be  chiefly  a  matter  of  how  much  meaning 
one^  gives  the  term  helicve.  If  we  say  the  only  difference  between 
believing  and  acting  is  one  of  extension,  still  we  must  recognize  that 
difference.  [  cannot  bring  myself  to  this  easy  solution.  The  dis- 
tinction seems  to  me  a  valuable  one,  and  it  certainly  is  imbedded 
the  common  sense  of  the  race. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  187 


There  are  those  who  feel  that  the  word  persuasion  is  tainted  with 
a  suggestion  of  improper  methods.  This  probably  arises  from  the 
erroneous  belief  that  our  emotions  are  necessarily  unworthy.  Emo- 
tions are  important  in  persuasion,  and  they  may  be  used  improperly, 
just  as  false  facts  and  fallacious  reasoning  may  be  employed.  At* 
any  rate,  please  understand  that  in  all  our  discussion  persuasiodi 
is  free  from  any  moral  implication. 

Belief  and  action.  Nothing  would  seem  to  be  a  plainer 
lesson  of  experience  than  that  we  mortals  often  leave 
undone  those  things  we  know  we  ought  to  do  and  do 
those  things  we  know  we  ought  not  to  do ;  yet  this  truth 
is  constantly  ignored  by  speakers,  and  with  bad  results. 
This  truth  is  proverbial :  * '  The  spirit  is  willing,  but  the 
flesh  is  weak'';  Video  melm^a  prohoque;  deteriora  sequor. 
Certain  knowledge  that  lack  of  exercise  is  ruining  one's 
health  does  not  necessarily  drive  one  out  of  doors;  yet 
one  does  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  one's  work  or 
pleasure  is  worth  the  cost.  There  must  be,  then,  more 
than  intellectual  acceptance  of  truth  to  secure  action. 

It  may  seem  absurd  to  insist  upon  such  a  truism  as  that  men  do 
not  always  act  in  .accordance  with  judgment;  but  I  write  out  of 
memory  of  classroom  struggles.  When  regarding  a  cold,  barren, 
tactless  speech  I  have  asked,  ''What  elements  of  persuasion  does 
this  contain?"  I  have  received  the  answer,  ''Does  it  not  prove  my 
claim?  What  more  is  needed?"  Apparently  I  have  appeared  a 
shocking  cynic  when  I  have  suggested  that  men  are  not  always  gov- 
erned by  pure  reason.  What  marvels  we  should  be  if  we  lived  up, 
as  is  assumed,  to  all  we  agree  to  in  the  words  of  our  preachers ! 
But— 

*'T'he  sermon  now  ended, 
Each  turned  and  descended. 
The  eels  went  on  eeling. 
The  pike  went  on  stealing : 
Much  delighted  were  they. 
But — preferred  the  old  way." 

Persuasion  an  everyday  matter.    Iiet  us  get  clearly  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  an  artificial  or  i; 
usual  problem.    When  you  induce  a  man  to  joi 
party,  or  buy  an  auto  nobile,  or  improve  his  habits 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


fishing  with  you,  or  pay  his  bills,  or  open  his  mind  to  the 
possibility  that  the  Germans,  or  the  English,  are  well- 
meaning  men,  you  are  persuading  him.  Persuasion  is  as 
familiar  as  living,  and  you  will  recognize  at  once  its 
means,  such  as  arguments,  motives,  suggestions,  personal 
fmfluence,  tact. 

Importance  of  persuasion  to  the  speaker.  When  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  said :  ^  ' '  I  define  oratory  to  be  the  art  of 
influencing  conduct  with  truth  sent  home  by  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  living  man,"  he  was  expressing  the  ancient 
and  true  belief  in  regard  to  the  peculiar-  and  highest 
purpose  of  public  speech.  Not  all  speech-making  is 
oratory,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  chief  pur- 
pose of  public  speaking  is  persuasion.  It  is  in  persua- 
sion that  the  spoken  word  is  superior  to  the  written. 
Speaking  generally,  the  written  word  is  more  effectual 
for  making  ideas  clear ;  but  when  men  are  to  be  aroused 
to  act,  to  vote,  to  change  a  habit,  to  adopt  a  course  of 
conduct,  to  kindle  with  enthusiasm,  then  the  speaker  is 
needed. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  more  common  forms  of  public  discourse. 
College  lectures  form  an  exceptional  group ;  their  end  is  usually  in- 
struction. But  when  a  college  professor  delivers  a  lecture  which  has 
as  its  end  the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for  good  literature,  or  a  high 
sense  of  professional  honor,  he  is  persuading.  On  Chautauqua  and 
lyceum  platforms  some  lectures  are  for  entertainment,  some  for  in- 
struction, but  many  are  persuasive,  as  those  by  Bryan  and  by  La- 
Follette. 

In  deliberative  speeches,  before  legislatures,  conventions,  or  on 
the  stump,  wherever  policies  are  to  be  decided  by  vote,  persuasion 
is  prominent  in  the  appeal  to  motive,  the  arousal  of  feeling  and  the 
recognition  of  prejudice.  In  the  pulpit  persuasion  is  the  dominant 
note ;  exposition  and  argument  are  but  moans  to  the  end  of  influenc- 
ing conduct.  All  other  kinds  of  speei/hes  are  loosely  classed  as  Occa- 
vonal.  It  is  true  that  their  end  often  seems  to  be  mere  entertain- 
or  the  display  of  the  speaker's  powers,  as  in  Webster's  over- 


ture entitled  Oratory. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  189 


rated  Bunker  Hill  addresses.  But  the  more  serious  *>^rpose  of  such 
memorial  addresses,  addresses  at  celebrations  and  l.  ^o^gies,  is  to 
inspire  the  hearers  to  greater  patriotism  or  nobler  living.  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  Address  is  a  model  in  miniature  for  all  such  orations. 
The  moral  is  not  always  pointed ;  the  most  persuasive  speeches  ofteu 
let  the  exhortation  be  implied. 

Even  at  jovial  banquets  few  speakers  will  be  content  merely  to 
*'give  a  stunt"  ;  there  is  usually  a  persuasive  point.  The  fun  is  used 
for  a  purpose  beyond  itself ;  though  there  are  occasions  when  any 
serious  purpose  is  manifestly  out  of  place.  But  most  banquets  at 
w^hich  there  is  speaking,  are  not  merely  jovial.  It  was  at  the  annual 
dinner  of  the  New  England  Society,  in  December,  18TG,  that  George 
William  Curtis  delivered  his  speech  on  The  Puritan  Principle :  Lib- 
erty under  the  Law,  which,  though  it  began  humorously  and  blended 
with  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  yet,  in  the  judgment  of  Edward 
Everett  Hale,  turned  the  nation  from  civil  war  over  the  contested 
presidential  election  of  that  year. 

With  regard  to  forensic  addresses,  it  is  well  known  that  lawyers 
indulge  in  more  than  logical  discussion  of  the  evidence ;  and  even 
before  the  highest  court  persuasion  has  its  place.  Webster's  plea 
before  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case  is  the  stock 
example.  Gardiner's  Forms  of  Prose  Literature  (pp.  79,  31G)  fur- 
nishes opportunity  for  an  interesting  study  of  Joseph  Choate's  argu- 
ment against  the  Income  Tax  law  of  1894,  with  reference  to  its 
persuasion. 

Hearers  classified  with  reference  to  persuasion.  First, 
there  are  those  who  come  already  in  agreement  with  the 
speaker.  Of  these  there  are  some  (a)  eager  to  follow 
his  lead ;  as  is  the  case  with  strong  partizans  listening  to 
a  speaker  of  the  same  political  party.  These  the  speaker 
may  consider  among  his  assets,  helpful  by  their  sym- 
pathy and  also  by  their  influence  in  moving  other  ele- 
ments in  the  a^iience.  (b)  There  may  be  others  in 
agi'eement  who  are  as  yet  indifferent.  Some  of  these 
may  be  of  the  small-pot-soon-hot"  kind,  who  are  also 
soon  cooled.  They  may  serve  as  a  sort  of  kindling  wood, 
with  their  easy  enthusiasm ;  but  since  they  cannot  be  de- 
pended upon  the:  ,  le  despair  of  earnest  workers. 
They  are  txfe  ''sto  nd  hearers"  of  the  parable  of 


190  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

the  seed-so^^  ng.  The  problem  is  '  ^^en  their  convic- 
tions an  I  to  make  upon  them  an  onduring  impression. 
There  may  be  others  in  agreement  but  without  keen  in- 
terest, who  are  phlegmatic  and  diflScult  to  arouse.  They 
lie  heavily  on  the  speaker's  spirits;  but  may  be  better 
worth  effort  than  the  class  just  referred  to.  They  are 
likely  to  stay  by. 

Secondly,  we  may  have  in  our  audience  a  neutral  ele- 
ment, (a)  There  are  likely  to  be  some  who  may  be  won 
by  simply  awakening  their  interest;  or  who  may  easily 
be  thrown  into  opposition  by  tactlessness.  They  require 
little  argument ;  and  will  be  little  affected  by  argument, 
once  in  opposition,  (b)  The  far  more  important  divi- 
sion of  the  neutral  group  consists  of  those  who  listen 
judicially.  They  will  give  a  fair  hearing;  but  they 
will  scrutinize  every  statement  and  argument,  and  will 
resist  every  attempt  to  sweep  them  from  their  intellectual 
moorings  by  emotional  appeal.  They  have  to  be  shown 
that  the  proposition  is  sound  and  the  motives  sufficient. 
Such  men  are  likely  to  be  of  weight  in  the  audience  and 
in  the  community,  and  are  worth  the  winning.  Here 
we  first  come  upon  a  class  whose  winning  calls  notably 
for  argument. 

The  third  grand  division  consists  of  those  in  active 
opposition,  (a)  One  group  of  these  is  composed  of  the 
unthinking,  against  the  proposal  because  they  do  not  un- 
derstand it,  or  because  it  is  new  and  runs  counter  to 
their  traditions,  prejudices  and  habits.  To  their  minds 
the  proposal  is  simply  not  to  be  thought  of;  and  they 
will  refuse  a  genuine  hearing  unless  by  a  tactful  ap- 
proach, explanations,  or  the  presentation  of  some  strong 
motive,  their  attitude  is  changed,  (b)  Most  doughty 
opponents  of  all  are  those  who  have  ccr^sidered  the 
proposition  and  decided  against  it.    For  them  the  mat- 


JN— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  191 


tCx     ^  and  they  listen  with  resisting  minds,  hear- 

ing argUi.  3  for  the  proposal  only  to  rebut  them.  But 
since  they  ar»^  thinking  men,  if  their  minds  can  be  opened 
to  genuine  reconsideration,  they  may  be  won  by  cogent 
argument.  Most  difficult  of  all,  almost  hopeless  in  fact, 
are  those  who,  whether  thoughtful  or  not,  see  in  your 
proposal  danger  to  their  selfish  interests,  or  those  whom 
pride,  affections,  or  established  beliefs  hold  on  the  other 
side. 

Such  a  classification  might  be  much  elaborated  and  varied ;  and 
is,  of  course,  rather  artificial.  The  thinking  man  is  not  free  from 
prejudice,  the  prejudiced  man  may  be  a  clear  thinker  once  preju- 
dice is  allayed,  the  indifferent  man  may  become  an  enthusiast,  and 
a  man  light-minded  when  approached  in  one  way  may  be  serious 
approached  in  another.  Nevertheless,  the  classification  helps  us 
in  understanding  our  problem,  especially  in  realizing  the  important 
fact  that  *'many  men  have  many  minds." 

Our  plan.  To  treat  fully  each  of  these  groups  would 
require  a  volume;  but  by  considering  two  of  the  prob- 
lems suggested  rather  fully,  we  shall  be  able  to  under- 
stand the  others.  Eoughly  speaking,  we  shall  in  this 
chapter  deal  chiefly  with  those  hearers  who  are  not  so 
much  to  be  convinced  that  the  speaker's  proposal  is 
sound  as  aroused  to  interest  and  action ;  while  in  the  next 
chapter  attention  will  be  given  chiefly  to  those  who  must 
first  be  convinced. 

The  foundation  principle  of  persuasion.  We  now  need 
a  principle  by  means  of  which  we  can  systematize  the 
suggestions  for  persuasion  drawn  from  common  experi- 
ence. Why  do  we  will  to  do  or  not  to  do?  We  turn 
again  to  Professor  James:  ^ 

^'What  holds  attention  determines  action.  ...  It 
seenis  as  if  we  ought  to  look  for  the  secret  of  an  idea's 
impulsiveness  ...  in  the  urgency  with  which  it  is  able 

1  Briefer  Course,  p.  448. 


X^fhgspx  .-   PUBLIC  SPEAKIN 


to  compdl  attention  and  dominate  in  c  ^ct 
it  once  so  dominate,  let  no  other  ideas  displac- 
ing it,  and  whatever  motor  effects  belong  lx,  Dy  nature 
will  inevitably  or-cur.  ...  In  short,  one  ^:loos  not  see  any 
case  in  which  the  steadfast  occupancy  of  consciousness 
does  not  appear  to  be  the  prime  condition  of  impulsive 
power.  It  is  still  more  obviously  the  prime  condition  of 
inhibitive  power.  What  checks  our  impulses  is  the  mere 
iJ^inking  of  reasons  to  the^eotitrafy— it  is  their  bare  pres- 
/  enee  iiT  the  mind  which  gives  the  veto,  and  makes  acts, 
ijotherwise  seductive,  impossible  to  perform.  If  we  could 
only  forget  our  scruples,  our  doubts,  our  fears,  what  ex- 
ultant energy  we  should  for  a  while  display ! ' ' 

^  ^'Consent  to  the  idea's  undivided  presence,  this  is 
effort's  sole  achievement.  Its  only  function  is  to  get 
this  feeling  of  consent  into  the  mind.  And  for  this  there 
is  but  one  way.  The  idea  to  be  consented  to  must  be 
kept  from  flickering  and  going  out.  It  must  be  held 
steadily  before  the  mind  until  it  fills  the  mind." 
^  ^''We  thus  find  that  we  reach  the  heart  of  our  inquiry 
into  volition  when  we  ask  by  what  process  it  is  that  the 
thought  of  any  given  action  comes  to  prevail  stably  in  the 
mind.'' 

Support  for  this  theory  is  abundant.  Thus  Angell  says :  3  "Vo- 
lition is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  matter  of  attention.  When  we 
can  keep  our  attention  firmly  fixed  upon  a  Kne  of  conduct  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  competitors,  our  decision  is  already  made."  And 
Titchener  says :  *  *'So  far  as  I  can  see  the  term  'will'  affords  the 
best  general  title  for  two  great  groups  of  psychological  facts :  the 
facts  of  attention  and  the  facts  of  action.  There  can,  I  thin^,  be 
no  doubt  that  these  two  groups  are  intimately  related,  that  action  is 
simply  a  special  case  of  attention." 

*  *  What  holds  attention  determines  action. "  To  do  an 
act,  then,  give  it  exclusive  attention.  To  resist  an  im- 
pulse, keep  your  mind  upon  other  ideas,  reasons  why 

1  Briefer  Coursey  p.  452. 
Idem  ,  p.  450. 

^  Pf^chology,  p.  39'^.    Cf.  Creightou,  The  Will,  p.  26  ;  Pillsbury, 
Attrntion,  p.  1(15  and  EsscntiaU  of  Psychologi/,  pp  r;01  1  ■  Thorn- 
dike,  Elements  of  PsiKliology,  pp.  27^)-2l>l. 
Feeling  and  Attention^  p.  297. 


PERSUASION— INFj;\JENCING  CONj. 

you  should  not,  ''inhibiting  ideas'';  or,  better,  ^. 
easier,  upon  some  otlier  line  of  conduct.    If  I  wis. 
stay  at  work  thi^ , afternoon,  I  must  not  let  my  min 
dwell  on  tfe^^bltt^ame,  but  keep  it  steadily  on  the  work 
and  the  joy  of  getting  it  done. 

We  see  this  principle  working  out  freely  in  the  young  child.  He 
reaches  for  the  moon  because  the  impulse  to  reach  for  it  is  not  yet 
associated  with  the  uselessness  of  so  doing.  When  the  unwise 
mother  says  to  her  child  of  three,  "Don't  scratch  the  piano  with 
that  nail,"  Johnny,  who  had  not  thought  of  such  a  deed,  now  has  his 
mind  filled  with  the  image  of  a  fine  scratch  in  the  varnish,  and  toddles 
straight  for  the  piano, — unless  he  has  already  had  such  experience 
with  his  mother's  donHs  that  an  inhibiting  image  of  pain  comes  to 
divide  and  dominate  his  attention. 

We  may  draw  illustrations  from  certain  abnormal  states :  A 
man  may  gradually  become  obsessed  with  the  thought  of  committing 
a  crime.  More  and  more  he  finds  it  difficult  to  drive  the  idea  from 
his  mind  ;  less  and  less  is  he  able  to  keep  in  mind  the  reasons  why  he 
should  not  do  the  deed.  He  becomes  a  monomaniac  and,  unless 
restrained,  will  commit  the  crime.  In  the  hypnotic  state  whatever 
action  is  suggested  holds  exclusive  attention  ;  no  inhibiting  idea  of 
absurdity  comes  to  mind,  and  a  suggestion  is  at  once  followed. 

Action  after  deliberation.  The  principle  set  forth  is 
not  applicable  merely  to  those  actions  performed  ^'just 
because  they  occurred  to  us  " ;  but  equally  to  action  after 
deliberation.  It  is  after  a  careful  analysis  of  the  **five 
types  of  decision,''  that  James  arrives  at  the  conclusions 
quoted.  Whether  we  weigh  the  pros  and  cons  long  and 
carefully,  or  give  a  '^snap''  judgment,  we  must  come  to  a 
time  when  we  push  one  set  of  ideas  out  of  mind  and  give 
full  attention  to  the  other  and  opposing  set;  when  the 
thought  of  one  course  of  action,  in  Baldwin's  words,^ 

swells  and  fills  consciousness."  The  man  of  deter- 
mined action  does  not  let  his  attention  fix  itself  again 
upon  the  rejected  possibility,  lest  he  become  a  whiffler. 
Having  put  his  hand  to  the  plow,  he  goes  forward  and 

1  Handbook  of  Psychology,  p.  355.^ 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


.  back.    He  must  not  hang  vacillating,  like 
^,  between  ''to  be  or  not  to  be/'  to  do  or  not  to  do, 

...  the  native  hue  of  resolution 
Is  sicklied  o  'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought. ' ' 

We  recall  the  sad  fate  of  the  classic  donkey,  that  chancing  to  stop 
precisely  halfway  between  two  cocks  of  hay,  was  unable  to  choose 
between  them  and  so  starved  to  death.  It  seems  to  be  the  task  of 
the  persuader  to  turn  such  a  poor  beast  about  till  he  squarely  faces 
one  heap  and  say,  "Go  to  it and  if  possible  to  put  on  blinders  to 
cut  off  the  backward  look. 

The  man  of  weak,  unstable  will  seems  to  be  one  who  cannot  face 
unpleasant  facts  and  rally  to  his  support  the  ideas  of  remote  conse- 
quences.   "Let 's  not  think  of  that,"  he  says.i 

As  an  aid  to  assimilating  this  thought,  work  out  this  problem : 
What  might  be  said  to  a  company  of  timid  recruits  about  to  go  under 
fire? 

Theory  of  persuasion.  To  persuade  a  man,  then,  seems 
to  be  nothing  more  or  less  than  to  win  his  undivided 
attention  to  the  desired  conduct,  to  make  him  think  of 
that  and  stop  thinking  of  other  courses,  or  of  any  inhibit- 
ing ideas. ^  At  this  stage  we  may  venture  a  new  defini- 
^ion  of  persuasion,  one  which  would  have  been  meaning- 
less before,  and  which  may  not  be  entirely  clear  till  we 
are  in  the  next  chapter.  Persuasion  is  the  process  of  in- 
ducing others  to  give  fair,  favorable,  or  undivided  atten- 
tion to  propositions.  We  have  now  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  all  we  have  learned  about  interest  and  at- 
tention will  serve  us  in  solving  this  master  problem  of  the 
art  of  public  speech. 

1  Pillsbury,  Attention,  p.  163;  James,  Briefer  Course^  p.  451, 
Talks  to  Teachers,  187. 

2  ''To  produce  a  given  act  in  any  person  thus  commonly  implies 
the  arousal  of  the  mental  state  which  has  tha*:  act  as  its  sequent, 
and  also  the  suppression  of  conflicting  or  competing  mental  states." 
Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychologp,  p.  2''»;. 

Persuasion  "is  simply  the  act  of  holdiiiu'  the  favorable  attention 
long  enough  for  the  stimulus  to  enter  int*-  fitictlve  combination  with 


PERSUASION— IN^Ll^?^'^^^^  ^O^DUCT  195^ 

If  some  readers  cannot  accept  this  theory  at  once  because  of  pre- 
conceptions, this  fact  need  not  trouble  them  in  following  the  rest  of 
this  discussion;  for  surely  all  must  assent  cO  the  high  importance  in 
persuasion  of  winning  favorable  attention.  The  theory,  however, 
rests  upon  the  best  of  authorities,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
authority  qualifies  it  in  any  way  that  affects  its  practical  application 
to  our  work. 

There  is  a  conventional  theory  of  persuasion,  so  intei*woven  with 
the  literature  of  this  subject  that  we  should  note  it  briefly  before 
proceeding.    This  theory  is  based  upon  the  conception,  not  now  in 
favor,  that  our  minds  are  divided  into^tbr^e^jiaits^  intellect,  emotion, 
will.    To  persuade,  we  are  toM,  one  must  satisfy,  ov~ov(^'oweYy  the 
intellect ;  then  arouse  the  emotion,  which  in  turn  will  move  the  will. 
"We  first  know,  then  feel,  then  act,"  says  a  text  on  argumentation.  ^ 
"Emotion  is  conditioned  on  apprehension,  volition  on  emotion,  action 
on  volition."    This  theory  is  artificial  and  leads  to  certain  errors  in  , 
practice  which  we  shall  note  further  on;  but  still  it  may  be  w^elll 
enough  harmonized  with  the  theory  we  shall  work  with  :    To  satisfy 
the  intellect  is  to  bring  to  attention  reasons  for  the  desired  conduct, 
and  to  remove  objections  from  attention ;  and  arousal  of  emotion  in 
regard  to  an  action  is  a  sure  way  to  win  attention  to  it. 

Emotion  and  persuasion.    It  is  quite  correct  to  insisf/ 
upon  the  importance  of  emotion  in  persuasion.    As  al-l 
ready  said,  ideas  which  arouse  emotion  hold  attention.  I 
And,  as  J ames  says,^  *  ^  When  any  strong  emotional  statF^ 
whatever  is  upon  us,  the  tendency  is  for  no  images  but 
such  as  are  congruous  with  it, to  come  up.    If  others  by 
chance  offer  themselves,  t^^y  a/e  instantly  smothered 
and  crowded  out.    If  Joyous,  we  cannot  keep 

thinking  of  those  uncertainties  and  risks  of  failure  which 
abound  upon  our  path ;  if  lugubrious,  we  cannot  think  of 
new  triumphs,  travels,  loves,  and  joys ;  nor  if  vengeful,  of 
our  oppressor's  community  of  nature  with  ourselves." 
In  persuasion,  then,  we  wish  to  allay  emotions  that  will 
keep  objections  in  mind,  such  as  dislike  for  the  means  or 

other  effective  processes  in  consciousness."    Hollingwortii,  Adver- 
Using  and  SeUing,  p.  133. 
1  Briefer  Course,  p.  451. 


19G 


PUBLIC  S5EAJiiN<? 


the  end;  or  desire  for  other  ends ;  and  we  wish  to  awaken 
such  emotions  as  will  win  for  the  proposed  acticn  favorr 
able  attention. 

But  it  is  a  mistake  to  speak,  as  is  often  done,  of  per- 
suasion as  altogether  a  matter  of  appealing  to  emo- 
tion." The  phrase  proves  misleading.  It  is  taken  by 
some  to  refer  to  pathos  only,  or  to  an  arousal  of  the  more 
violent  feelings;  or  at  best  as  an  appeal  to  some  large 
emotion,  such  as  patriotism.  Again,  the  word  appeal  is 
misunderstood  as  meaning  direct,  fervid  exhortation 
only.  It  is  true  that  persuasion  is  much  concerned  with 
emotion.  But  it  will  be  seen  as  we  proceed  that  there 
are  means  of  persuasion  which  are  not  suggested  by  the 
phrase,  appealing  to  emotion."  It  would  not  suggest, 
for  example,  winning  an  audience  to  a  candid,  sincere 
state  of  mind,  or  the  presentation  of  sober  facts. 

Motives.  The  most  evident  way  in  which  we  arouse 
emotion  to  fix  attention  is  by  awakening  desire  for  the 
end  sought;  and  an  effective  desire  we  call  a  motive^ 
Desire  notoriously  tends  to  maintain  the  idea  of  its 
object  or  end  at  the  focus  of  consciousness ;  our  thought 
keeps  flying  back  to  dwell  on  that  which  we  strongly 
desire,  in  spite  of  pur  best  efforts  to  banish  the  idea  of  it 
from  our  minds. "  ^ 

The  relation  of  the  word  motive  to  both  motion  and  emotion  is 
apparent  enough.    Ait  emotion  which  moves  to  action  is  a  motive, 
though  not  all  motives  are  emotion^s.'s    There  is  no  necessity  for  the  ^ 
term  motive  in  our  discussion,  but  we  will  use  it  since  it  is  so  well 
fixed  in  contmon  speech.  • 

Incitement,  inducefiient^nmpnlse  are  among  the  proper  synonyms 
of  mothye ;  but  we  also  use  reason,  though  one's  motive  may  be 
highly  unreasonable.  The  usage  probably  arises  froip  the  fact  that 
motives,  or  emotion;*!,  stafni  as  the  major  premises  in  persuasive  argu- 
ments ;  as, 

1  Dewey,  ]*s!/c}iolofj!f,  p.  30(). 

2  AfcDougnll.  SodnJ  Psychology,  p,  !241. 

3  Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  p.  89. 


PERSUASION— INFLl'ENCING  CONDUCT  19?^/* 

Yon  wish  to  gain  monf-^': 

This  investment  will.^^^^i^  you  money; 

Therefore,  make  the  investment. 

To  enter  upon  any  elaborate  aS^lysis  of  human  motives 
is  unnecessary  here.  A  very  simple  but  SuggOstive  clas- 
sification of  motives  is  that  of  Newcomar/  who  treats  of 
.persuasion  (1)  by  appeal  to  personal  interest,  (2)  by 
appeal  to  social  duty,  and  (3)  by  appeal  to  religious  duty. 
Phillips's  classification  of  impelling  motives  ^  has  already 
been  adapted  to  our  treatment  of  interest :  self-preserva- 
tion, property,  power,  reputation,  affections,  sentiments 
and  tastes.  Most  of  these  terms  are  self-explanatory. 
Under  sentiments  are  placed  honor,  patriotism,  and  in 
general  the  desire  to  do  whatever  is  right,  fair,  and 
noble.  Tastes  include  love  of  music,  of  drama,  and  of 
pleasures  generally.^ 

Only  very  exceptional  circumstances,  if  any,  justify 
appealing  to  unworthy  motives,  but  any  proper  motive 
which  is  operative  with  the  audience,  may  be  appealed  to. 
Some  hard  questions  arise.  Would  you  play  upon  a 
man's  avarice  to  save  him  from  d^^gjoJ^Hie^ ?  His 
hatred  of  a  rival?  May  one  ever  properly  appeal  to  a 
prejudice  ?  It  is  very  difficult  to  decide  what  beliefs  and 
feelings  are  prejudices.  Certainly  some  of  our  best  sen- 
timents are  due  to  inheritance  rather  than  to  reason ;  as 
our  sense  of  honor.  One  may  have  a  prejudice,  an  ^^un- 
reasoning predilection,"  for  the  right  course  as  well  as 

1  English  Composition,  p.  171. 

2  Effective  Speaking,  p.  48. 

3  An  elaborate  discussion  of  the  motives  and  feelings  which  Aris- 
totle considers  of  chief  importance  to  the  speaker,  is  found  in  his 
Rhetoric:  in  Boo]"  I,  v.  an  analysis  of  happiness, — good  birth,  goodly 
and  numerous  oit'spring,  wealth,  good  repute,  honor,  health,  happy 
old  age,  friendship,  good  fortune,  virtue.  In  I,  vi,  an  analysis  of 
the  Good  and  '"he  Expedient:  in  1,  vii,  a  comparison  of  goods;  in 
II,  ii,  the  emotions.  (1)  ansrer  and  mildness,  (2)  love  and  hatred, 
(8)  fear  and  )olflness,  (4)  compassion,  envy  and  emulation.  (5i 
shame  and  shgmelessness,  (B)  gratitude,  (7)  righteous  indignati<)u. 


198 


PUiir  C  S^>EAKING 


for  the  wrong.  You  belie  ye  that  a  certain  church  or 
sect  is  based  upon  superstition .  perhaps  yQU  believe  it  an 
evil  institution.  Would  you  hesitate  to  rally  the  adher- 
ents oi  iliut  church,  to  support  a  good  cause  by  pointing 
out  that  the  interf  sts  of  their  church  are  involved  ?  Sup- 
pose you  were  dealing  with  a  mob  bent  on  murder ;  would 
you  play  on  their  desire  for  plunder  in  another  direc- 
tion ?  This,  like  other  questions  of  platform  ethics,  does 
not  differ  essentially  from  the  problems  of  our  everyday 
intercourse.  Each  case  must  be  decided  on  its  merits. 
I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  any  moral  looseness  in  dealing 
with  these  questions.  They  should  be  treated  seriously ; 
but  when  we  consider  their  complexity  and  how  the 
noblest  motives  have  moved  men  to  the  foulest  deeds,  we 
hesitate  to  be  dogmatic. 

Professor  Bater  has  spoken  wisely  upon  motives :  ^ 

\  Choose  the  highest  motive  to  which  you  think  your 
I  audience  will  respond.  If  a  speaker  feels  it  necessary  to 
appeal  to  motives  not  of  the  highest  grades  he  should  see 
to  it  that  before  he  closes  he  makes  them  lead  into 
higher  motives.''  Professor  Baker  illustrates  with 
Beecher's  Speech  at  Liverpool,  in  which  the  orator  dur- 
ing our  Civil  War  was  struggling  with  a  very  hostile 
audience  of  Englishmen.  He  argued  that  if  slavery 
were  abolished  in  the  South,  England  would  find  a  better 
market  there  for  her  goods,  but  ^*he  connected  this  ap- 
peal with  the  far  higher  motives  of  mere  justice  and  the 
good  of  humanity.  .  .  .  What  gives  its  significance  to 
[this]  suggestion  ...  is  that  few  men  are  willing  to  ad- 
mit that  they  have  acted  from  motives  considered  low  or 
mean.  Even  if  they  suspect  this  to  be  the  case,  they  en- 
deavor to  convince  themselves  that  it  is  not  true.  In  an 
audience  each  man  knows  those  about  him  see  wnat  moves 
him  in  the  speaker's  words  and  therefore  he  yields  most 
readily  to  a  motive  which  he  knows  is  generally  com- 

1  Principles  of  Aroumimiation^  p.  321, 


PERSUASION  -INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  199 


mended — religious  feelings,  charity,  devotion  to  one's 
country,  etc.  .  .  Since,  then,  men  yield  more  willingly 
to  motives  ge  orally  commended,  and  since  unanimity 
of  action  is  more  easily  gained  when  the  highest  motives 
are  addressed,  this  corollary  to  the  suggestion  last  made 
may  be  formulated :  The  larger  the  audience,  the  highej: 
the  motives  to  which  an  appeal  may  be  made. ' '  ^ 

The  last  sentence  of  the  quotation  suggests  a  correla- 
tive truth,  one  that  should  make  us  chary  of  sweeping,^ 
dogmatic  assertions, — that  it  is  more  difficult  to  appeal; 
to  the  higher  emotions  of  a  small  than  of  a  large  audi- 
ence. We  all  know  the  uneasy,  half -shamed  feeling 
which  men  feel  if  lofty  motives  are  attributed  to  them 
when  but  few  are  together;  and  this  feeling  is  espe- 
cially strong  when  the  members  of  the  group  are  well 
known  to  each  other.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  we  often 
refuse  to  admit  our  best  motives.  There  would  be  few 
among  those  who  have  attended  military  training  camps 
this  summer  who  would  confess  to  a  higher  motive  than 
a  desire  for  fun  or  physical  fitness.  And  if  brought  to 
a  confession  of  patriotism,  they  w^ould  not  use  the  word, 
but  say  shamefacedly,  ^^Well,  every  fellow  ought  to^|3e 
ready  to  do  his  share.''  Tact  is  more  needed  in  appes^- 
ing  to  the  best  motives  of  a  small  than  of  a  large  group. 
Often  tact  is  a  matter  of  phraseology.  It  may  consist  ih 
avoiding  words  of  sentiment.  More  acceptable  at  times 
than,  To  do  this  is  noble  and  generous,  is  it  to  use  the 
seemingly  ruder  form.  Not  to  do  this  is  mean  and  con-' 
temptible. 

We  are  thinking  now  of  audiences  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances. We  should  note  that  in  times  of  stress  and 
excitement,  an  audience,  large  or  small,  will  respond  to 
a  broad  appeal  which  ordinarily  they  might  receive  with 
grins  or  blushes. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKI>.G 

While  motives  are  frequently  mixed,  we  need  not 
cynically  attribute  right  actions  to  stylishness,  ambition 
or  fear  of  public  opinion.  The  averagt  ban  really  in- 
tends to  do  the  right  thing  once  his  sense  of  responsibility 
is  aroused.  Most  of  us  have  certain  principles  of  con- 
duct, duty,  honesty,  honor,  courage  and  generosity,  in 
accordance  with  which  we  must  live  if  we  are  to  retain 
our  self-respect.  Moreover,  while  we  follow  some  lines 
of  conduct  because  they  are  easy,  popular  and  profit- 
able, we  may,  in  more  heroic  mood,  be  attracted  by  the 
hard,  the  dangerous,  and  the  self-sacrificing  course. 

The  New  York  Times  i  quotes  "a  shrewd  public  man  in  this  city 
[who]  was,  on  one  occasion,  discussing  the  probable  future  of  David 
B.  Hill,  then  seemingly  in  command  of  the  politics  of  this  state  : 

**  *Mr.  Hiirs  success  may  be  called  self-limiting,  and  I  think  the 
limit  is  approaching.  His  conception  of  politics  has  two  serious 
defects.  He  appeals  chiefly  to  the  [self-]  interest  of  his  associates 
and  subordinates,  and  sooner  or  later  he  cannot  satisfy  them,  for 
there  is  not  enough  profit  to  go  around.  And  he  does  not  understand 
the  tremendous  influence  of  a  moral  issue  on  public  sentiment.'  " 

A  story  ex-President  Taft  tells  of  himself  suggests  the  attitude  of 
the  average  man  toward  duty  when  plainly  seen.  He  says  2  that 
when  Secretary  of  War  Root  asked  him  to  go  out  as  governor  of  the 
Philippines,  the  proposal  ran  counter  to  both  his  tastes  and  his  am- 
bitions, and  he  refused.  But  when  Mr.  Root  put  it  to  him  squarely 
that  he  had  had  a  series  of  pleasant  government  positions  and  that 
now  his  country  needed  him  for  a  more  arduous  duty,  he  yielded. 

To  restate:  Do  not  fear  to  appeal  to  the  best  senti^ 
ments  in  your  hearers.  Assume  they  are  better  rather 
than  worse  than  they  are.  They  may  respond  to  lower 
motives,  but  may  also  gladly  rise  to  a  higher  plane. 

Fairness.  One  of  the  appeals  to  which  men  are 
ashamed  not  to  respotid,  is  that  for  fair  play.  Very  few 
will  rest  easy  under  the  imputation  of  unfairness.  The 
average  man  who  is  really  convinced  that  denial  of  the 

1  April  7,  1014, 

2  In  a  speech  at  the  commencement  dinner  of  the  alumni  of  Ham* 
ilton  College  in  1013. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  2l 


ballot  results  :n  injustice  to  women,  will  vote  for  women 's 
suffrage.  The  appeal  to  the  sense  of  fairness  is  of  special 
importance  in  handling  hostile  audiences.  Beecher  at 
Liverpool,  facing  an  audience  partly  composed  of  roughs 
present  for  the  express  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  meet- 
ing, exclaimed  early  in  his  speech,  '  All  I  ask  is  simply 
fair  play ! ' '  Applause  followed  and  for  several  minutes 
the  interruptions  ceased. 

A  Scotch  friend  of  mine  went  out  to  preach,  some  twenty  years 
ago,  on  one  of  Chicago's  worst  corners,  which  had  four  saloons  and 
was  in  the  center  of  the  district  where  lived  the  anarchists  who  threw 
the  fatal  bomb  at  the  Haymarket  riot.  The  crowd,  which  believed 
him  sent  by  the  hated  capitalists,  pushed  him  off  the  sidewalk,  spit 
upon  him  and  badgered  him  till  preaching  was  impossible.  *'Is  not 
this  America?"  he  shouted.  "Shall  I  not  have  free  speech?"  *'Yes," 
they  replied,  "and  so  shall  we "But  you  give  me  no  chance ;  give 
me  five  minutes."    The  crowd  voted  that  fair  and  listened. 

Desire  for  approval  and  admiration.  While  I  have  em- 
phasized self-respect,  there  is  no  doubt  that  men  are 
strongly  drawn  ^>y  the  chance  to  impress  their  fellows 
with  their  prowess  or  importance ;  and  this  shows  itself 
in  large  and  in  petty  ways.  Men  will  undertake  great 
enterprises,  ind  undergo  great  hardships  and  sacrifices 
for  the  sako  of  reputation  and  power.  Some  men  will 
be  won  to  u  cause  for  which  in  the  beginning  they  care 
nothing,  by  being  given  a  chance  to  display  their  powers 
in  workir  g  for  it.  Others  may  be  won  from  indifference 
to  activn  support  by  some  small  concession  which  in- 
creases .heir  sense  of  self-importance,  such  as  a  seat  on  a 
platfor  Ji  or  appointment  as  usher.  A  badge  will  accom- 
plish wonders.  Others  whom  we  feel  less  petty,  will  risk 
their  lives  for  little  iron  crosses.  *'You  call  these  toys,'' 
Napoleon  is  reported  to  have  said  to  one  who  ridiculed 
the  insignia  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  ^'let  me  tell  you  that 
men  are  ruled  by  toys ! ' '    Pride  in  certain  manifestations 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

we  call  vanity,  and  again  we  speak  of  a        ,'ent  respect  I 
for  the  opinions  of  others'';  but  in  ai  v    ;ise  we  know  | 
that  we  are  much  influenced  by  the  r    sro  for  the  ap- 
proval and  admiration  of  our  fellows. 

What  would  you  say  to  a  group  of  boys  to  deter  them  from  climb- 
ing in  perilous  places?  Can  you  make  a  better  sign  than  "Danger — 
Keepor-7    ^^/^  ^  ^J^^^^^^^j^ 

Eivalry.    Very  clqse  to  the  preceding  is  tfie  desire  to  ^ 
emulate,  to  equal  or  to  surpass  others.    We  desire  prop-  | 
erty,  power  and  reputation  less  for  themselves  than  for  ; 
the  relative  position  they  give  us.    This  desire  to  emu-  \ 
late,  also,  takes  the  most  petty  and  the  most  noble  forms,  , 
from  the  desire  to  have  a  better  front  gate  than  one 's  i 
neighbors  to  the  desire  to  have  one's  town  cleaner  than  ; 
a  neighboring  town,  from  competition  in  eating  beef- 
steak to  competition  in  acts  of  courage  and  sacrifice. 
This  motive  is  much  relied  upon  by  those  who  wish  to  ^ 
arouse  either  individuals  or  commUi.nties.    Such  and  ^ 
such  a  town  has  a  paid  fire  department,  twenty  miles  of  ^ 
paved  streets,  playgrounds :  why  cannot  t jis  to'^vn,  with  - 
its  higher  grade  of  citizens,  do  as  well  or  bet'  er?    So  and  ^ 
so  of  your  class  has  subscribed  $1,000  to  the  a'ujjini  fund : 
cannot  you  do  as  well?   From  our  earliest  days  we  are  ■ 
seeking  to  do  as  some  admired  person  does,  or  .  etter  than 
some  one  we  dislike  or  envy.    Contrast  must  be  made, 
of  course,  with  some  person,  institution  or  community 
one's  hearers  wish  to  emulate  or  surpass,  else  c  ne  may 
get  an  answer  like  that  of  a  small  boy  to  his  mothe  r  when  ' 
sFie  points  out  a  model  of  decorum,  ''Who  cares  what  that  j 
sissy  does?"  ■ 

Fear.  We  have  emphasized  the  things  men  desire,  and  i 
this  is  ordinarily  the  better  note  to  strike ;  but  we  must  I 
not  forget  that  men  still  live  much  under  the  dominion 


PERSUASION—INFLUENCING  CONDU 


of  fear.    Tl      are  held  back  from  the  step  we 
alone  by  dislike  for  it,  or  opposing  desires, 
but  also  by  dread  of  unpleasant  consequences 
public  disapproval  of  a  departure  from  the 
path.    Fears  must  be  driven  from  mind  by 
presentation  of  the  pleasure,  profit,  or  honor  of 
urged.    But  when  positive  methods  prove  inau 
we  may  warn  of  the  dangers  of  the  wrong  course,  creac 
mg  a  fear  great  enough  to  dominate  attention  and  oust 
from  mind  the  fear  already  existing. 

A  white  feather  stuck  in  his  coat  lapel  drove  many  an  Englishman 
to  enlist  in  1914.  The  series  of  posters  displayed  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment in  the  first  year  of  the  war  would  repay  study  from  the 
standpoint  of  motives.  Consider  the  motives  touched  by  this  one, 
said  to  have  been  effective :  the  picture  of  a  boy  looking  up  to  his 
father  and  asking,  "Father,  what  did  you  do  in  the  Great  War?* 

Not  always  best  to  mention  motives.  It  should  not  be 
assumed  that  we  should  always  be  baldly  urging  or  ap- 
pealing to  our  audiences  to  do  some  act.  Action  may 
follow  as  a  matter  of  course  upon  knowledge  or  convic- 
tion. Tell  a  boy  he  is  wanted  to  pitch  a  game  of  base- 
ball, a  charitable  man  that  there  is  a  suffering  family  in 
the  next  block,  or  convince  a  conscientious  man  that  a 
certain  course  is  right,  and  there  is  no  need  of  dwelling 
on  motives.  The  mind  of  the  one  addressed  supplies  all 
that  is  needed,  and  in  many  cases  his  response  is  with- 
out conscious  emotion,  being  an  habitual  reaction.^ 
Often  the  speaker  s  task  is  only  that  of  identification;  he 
shows  that  the  proposed  course  is  profitable,  noble,  fash- 
ionable, will  win  votes,  give  pleasure,  and  that  is  all  that 
is  needed.  If  any  argument  at  all  is  called  for,  it  is  in 
establishing  the  fact  that  the  means  will  reach  the  end. 

To  dwell  upon  motives  may  at  times  be  offensive. 

1  Cf.  .Tames,  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  536. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKINC 


take  pride  in  their  good  citi/eii>i.ijp  may  not 
openly  urged  to  do  their  duty  to  their  city, 
like  to  be  preached  at;  many  of  the  most 
rmons  omit  the  exhortation.  The  preacher 
es  vice  ugly  and  virtue  desirable ;  or  he  makes 
course  which  an  honesty  clean,  generous  man 
ish  to  follow ;  and  when  he  has  brought  the  truth 
ividly  into  his  hearer's  consciousness,  he  leaves  it  to  do 
its  work.  And  because  most  men  wish  to  be  honest,  clean 
and  generous,  they  are  likely  to  respond  to  the  challenge. 

At  other  times  the  most  positive  methods  and  baldest 
appeals  to  emotion  are  in  order,  to  turn  men  from  strong 
habits  or  fascinating  leadership,  or  to  overcome  strong 
hostile  emotions.  There  are  times,  too,  when  the  appeal 
must  be  made,  but  less  openly.  Much  depends  upon  the 
character  of  the  audience  and  the  spirit  of  the  occasion. 
Much  depends,  also,  upon  the  relation  of  the  speaker  to 
his  audience.  A  young  man  would  hardly  venture  to 
exhort  an  audience  of  Civil  War  veterans  to  patriotism. 
If  he  exhorted  at  all,  he  would  exhort  the  young  men 
present  to  emulate  their  elders,  and  in  so  doing  he  might 
stimulate  the  veterans  to  live,  up  to  the  reputation  given 
them. 

When  familiar  motives  must  be  emphasized,  care 
should  be  taken  to  avoid  implying  moral  delinquency  on 
the  part  of  the  audience,  unless  it  be  deliberately  deter- 
mined that  severity  is  in  order.  Care  should  be  t^ken 
also  to  avoid  boring  by  trite  presentation  of  familiar 
motives;  especially  if  the  motive  dwelt  upon  be  duty. 
Often  one's  hearers  have  heard  certain  standard  argu- 
ments and  pleas  till  they  slip  off  attention  ''like  water 
fi'om  a  duck's  back."  Take,  for  example,  the  exhorta- 
tion to  political  duty.  A  new  setting  is  needed;  new 
facts  and  new  illustrations.    Pleas  are  often  reinforced 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCIF     rO>^DUCT  205 


by  stories  of  heroism  from  the  p  ;',t,  and  some  of  these 
are  badly  overworked;  yet  some  which  gather  about 
themselves  strong  emotions  can  be  told  with  great  per- 
suasive effect.  Keligious  pleas  are  often  founded  upon 
vh^id  recitals  of  the  Exodus  or  of  the  Crucifixion. 
^ Appealing  for  sympathy.  We  read  that  the  ancients 
would  endure  the  most  direct  assaults  upon  their  feelings. 
Pleaders  in  court  might  dramatically  bare  their  scars; 
and  the  young  children  of  a  defendant  might  be  exhibited 
with  the  open  intent  of  winning  sympathy.  These 
methods  have  not  entirely  lost  vogue,  but  they  can  rarely 
be  used  so  openly  vdth  good  effect.  The  modern  man, 
and  especially  the  AmericaEt  and  the  Englishman,  though 
emotional  enough,  dislikes  direct  appeals  to  his  feelings. 
He  may  hang  his  head  or  he  may  jeer;  but  he  is  in  all 
cases  likely  to  resist  when  he  is  conscious  that  an  assault 
upon  his  feelings  is  being  made'!^  Much  depends,  natu- 
rally, upon  the  situation,  and  mifch  may  be  forgiven  to  a 
speaker  evidently  sincere;  but  in  most  cases  when  one 
feels  the  need  of  awakening  sympathy  he  had  best  take 
the  less  direct  method ;  that  is,  depend  upon  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  case  rather  than  upon  pleas,  either  in  words 
or.  tones. 

Sense  of  responsibility.  It  is  often  very  difficult  to 
bring  home  to  an  audience  the  feeling  that  they  are 
personally  responsible  for  the  matter  in  hand.  The 
preacher  who  levels  a  sermon  at  the  head  of  an  erring 
deacon  is  congratulated  by  that  very  deacon,  who 
chuokles  *'to  think  how  Brother  Smith  got  scored  this 
morning.''  The  preacher  is  continually  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  say,  ''If  the  coat  fits  you,  put  it  on."  The  citi- 
zen who  attacks  a  municipal  abuse  finds  dozens  to  ''sym- 
pathize'' and  say,  "Yes,  yes,  why  doesn't  somebody  at- 
tend to  that  ? "  f or  one  to  step  forward  and  say,  ' '  I  have 


206  k  Lie  SPEAKING 

come  to  help."  Very  likely  the  priest  and  the  Levite 
who  passed  the  injured  man  by,  said,  ^  ^  Too  bad !  Some- 
body should  care  foi  him,  and  clean  out  those  bandits 
I  too;  but  my  business  in  Jericho  won't  wait.''  We  can 
\readily  see  that  the  speaker's  task  is  to  get  people  to  face 
•their  obligation  squarely,  to  give  it  attention  when  other 
matters  of  business  and  pleasure  are  taking  their  minds. 
He  must  make  them  see  that  the  public  nuisance,  the 
grafting  city  administration,  the  violation  of  tenement- 
house  laws,  the  endangered  honor  of  the  university,  are 
the  personal  responsibility,  not  only  of  all  of  his  hearers, 
but  of  each  of  them;  not  something  th^t  ^^they"  should 
attend  to,  but  something  that  unofficial  John  Smith 
should  attend  to. 

The  most  obvious  thing  to  do  is  to  declare  bluntly  the 
individual  responsibility  of  each  one  present.  But  audi- 
ences are  rather  hardened  to  this ;  we  are  all  told  of  in- 
numerable imperative  duties  as  men  and  citizens,  as 
members  of  this  body  and  that.  At  least  a  new  and  in- 
teresting way  of  bringing  home  the  responsibility  is 
needed,  especially  when  one's  hearers  are  not  yet 
aroused  over  the  situation. 

Preachers,  who  have  to  make  the  same  appeals  year  after  year, 
are  driven  to  invent  expedients.  The  following,  clipped  from  a 
church  announcement  sheet,  is  interesting : 

*'How  much  shall  I  give  to  benevolences? — being  a  litde  argu- 
ment with  myself.  ; 

"I  can  refuse  to  give  anything,  thus  sayingj'Stop  all  Missionary 
Effort :  Stop  all  building  of  frontier  Churches  and  Bible  Schools ; 
Stop  all  Ministerial  Education  ;  Stop  all  aid  given  to  aged  minis- 
ters.' Or 

"I  can  give  less  than  heretofore,  saying  ^Reduce  the  activities  of 
the  Church  as  I  have  reduced  my  gifts.'  Or  "I  can  give  the  same 
amount  as  formerly,  saying  /Stand  still.  Stay  where  you  are. 
Make  no  advance.    Undertake^(J3w  new  work.'  Or 

"I  can  increase  my  gifts  10,  20.  30,  .^)0%  and  thus  say  to  the 
Church,  ^Increase  your  activities  by  this  much.  Let  us  go  up  and 
possess  the  land  which  God  has  given  us.'  What  shall  be  my 
answer?" 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  207 

The  following,  taken  from  the  press  reports  of  an  offhand  ad- 
dress by  President  Wilson  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  Naval  Acad- 
emy in  1916,  is  an  attempt  to  impress  once  more  a  thought  that  was 
no  doubt  very  familiar  to  his  hearers :  i 

"Once  in  a  while  when  youngsters  here  or  at  West  Point  have  for- 
gotten themselves  and  have  done  something  that  they  ought  not  to 
do  and  were  about  to  be  disciplined,  perhaps  severely,  for  it,  I  have 
been  appealed  to  by  their  friends  to  excuse  them  from  the  pen- 
alty :  .  .  .  'You  know  college  boys.  You  know  what  they  are. 
They  are  heedless  youngsters,  very  often,  and  they  ought  not  to  be 
held  up  to  the  same  standards  of  responsibility  that  older  men  must 
submit  to.* 

''And  I  have  always  replied,  'Yes,  I  know  college  boys ;  but  while 
these  youngsters  are  college  boys,  they  are  something  more.  They 
are  officers  of  the  United  States.  They  are  not  merely  college  boys. 
If  they  were,  I  w^ould  look  at  derelictions  of  duty  on  their  part  in 
another  spirit ;  but  any  dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  a  naval 
officer  of  the  United  States  may  involve  the  fortunes  of  a  nation 
and  cannot  be  overlooked.' 

"Do  you  not  see  the  difference?  You  cannot  indulge  yourselves 
in  weakness,  gentlemen.  You  cannot  forget  your  duty  for  a  mo- 
ment ;  because  there  might  come  a  time  when  that  weak  spot  in  you 
would  affect  you  in  the  midst  of  a  great  engagement,  and  then  the 
whole  history  of  the  world  might  be  changed  by  what  you  did  not 
do,  or  did^  wrong.  ...  I  congratulate  you  that  you  are  going  to 
live  your  lives  under  the  most  stimulating  compulsion  that  any  man 
can  feel,  the  sense,  not  of  private  duty  merely,  but  of  public  duty 
also.  ...  I  wish  you  godspeed,  and  remind  you  that  yours  is  the 
honor  of  the  United  States." 

An  important  way  of  awakening  the  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, which  also  enlists  pride,  is  to  give  one's  hearers 
something  definite  to  do,  whether  that  something  be 
really  important  work  in  a  position  of  trust,  or  merely 
signing  a  petition,  or  standing  up  to  be  counted.  Get: 
them  at  least  to  commit  themselves  publicly  to  your 
cause  so  that  the  public  will  expect  action  from  them. 
Get  as  many  as  feasible  serving  on  committees  to  do  spe- 
cific tasks  and  report  upon  them.  Men  of  real  efficiency 
may  be  interested  in  a  cause  just  by  the  chance  to  do 
work  well ;  they  like  to  make  things  go.  Other  men  may 
be  enlisted  by  being  made  to  feel  that  they  are  needed, 
that  doing  their  bit,''  as  the  English  say,  is  of  real 
importance, 

1  For  entire  speech  see  daily  papers  for  June  2,  1916. 


208 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


In  taking  a  broad  view  of  persuasion,  we  may  note  that  an 
aroused  sense  of  responsibility  may  change  a  reckless  radical  into  a 
conservative,  or  may  change  a  conservative  into  a  progressive. 
Macaulay  declares  that  Whigs  in  office  become  Tories.*  Make  your 
r  hearers  realize  that  they  are  personally  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  the  business  in  hand,  and  they  may  cease  to  shout  for  violent 
action.  Mr.  George  hit  upon  his  famous  plan  for  the  * 'Junior  Re- 
public" by  discovering  that  he  could  secu-re  the  order  he  had  failed  to 
command  among  his  ''fresh  air"  boys,  by  making  the  ring-leader  in 
disorder  chief  of  police.  On  the  other  hand,  the  responsibility  of 
dealing  with  a  situation  may  break  down  a  man's  conservatism,  be- 
cause it  compels  him  to  face  conditions  he  has  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge. 

Compelling  people  to  face  the  truth.  It  is  important 
to  prevent  people  from  deceiving  themselves  with  ex- 
cuses. Professor  James,  in  discussing  attention  and 
will/  puts  stress  upon  the  difficulty  we  often  have  in 
keeping  attention  upon  the  right  action,  seeing  clearly 
that  a  duty  is  a  duty  and  that  an  evil  action  is  an  evil 
action.  ''What  is  hard,"  he  says,  ''is  facing  an  idea  as 
real. ' '  The  drift  of  attention  is  all  away  from  the  right 
idea,  and  we  must  strain  attention  to  it  "until  at  last  it 
grows,  so  as  to  maintain  itself  before  the  mind  with  ease. 
This  strain  of  the  attention  is  the  fundamental  act  of 
will. "  ^  It  is  sometimes  the  speaker 's  business  to  com- 
pel his  audience  to  face  unpleasant  facts  as  real,  and  in 
particular  to  prevent  their  putting  them  away  by  calling 
them  by  other  names. 

^ ' '  How  many  excuses  does  the  drunkard  find  when 
each  new  temptation  comes !  It  is  a  new  brand  of  liquor 
which  the  interests  of  intellectual  culture  in  such  mat- 
ters obliges  him  to  test;  moreover  it  is  poured  out  and  it 
is  a  sin  to  waste  it;  also  others  are  drinking  and  it  would 
be  churlishness  to  refuse.  Or  it  is  but  to  enable  him  to 
sleep,  or  just  to  get  through  this  job  of  work;  or  it  is  n't 

1  Briefer  Course    p.  451. 

2  Idem  ,  p.  452. 

s  Idem,  p.  453.    Cf.  Talks  io  Teachers,  p.  188. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT 


drinking,  it  is  because  he  feels  so  cold ;  or  it  is  Christma 
day ;  or  it  is  a  means  of  stimulating  him  to  make  a  mon 
powerful  resolution  in  favor  of  abstinence  than  any  he 
has  hitherto  made,  or  it  is  just  this  once,  and  once  does  n 't 
count,  etc.,  etc.,  ad  lihitum — it  is,  in  fact,  anything  you 
like  except  heing  a  drunkard.  That  is  the  conception 
that  will  not  stay  before  the  poor  soul's  attention.  But 
if  he  once  gets  able  to  pick  out  that  way  of  conceiving, 
.  .  .  if  through  thick  and  thin  he  holds  to  it  that  this  is 
being  a  drunkard  and  is  nothing  else,  he  is  not  likely  to  ^ 
remain  one  long.  .  .  .  Everywhere,  then,  the  function  ^ 
of  the  effort  is  the  same :  to  keep  affirming  and  adopting 
a  thought  which  if  left  to  itself  would  slip  away.'' 

The  part  of  the  persuader  in  helping  or  compelling 
others  to  accept  and  stick  to  the  right  conception,  la- 
beled with  the  right  name,  is  plain  enough.  He  should 
noTpermit  bis  hearers  to  call  rudeness  or  destructiveness 
fuuy  penuriousness  caring  for  one^s  oivn  household, 
prodigality  generosity,  dissipation  being  a  good  fellow, 
indolence  weariness  or  illness,  snobbishness  refinement, 
lies  excuses,  bigotry  religion,  or  to  suffer  from  the  two 
delusions  from  which  an  Oxford  don  says  his  little  world 
suffers, — having  no  opinions  and  calling  it  balanced 
mind,  and  expressing  no  opinions  and  calling  it  modera- 
tion. 

Dr.  Wiley  tells  a  story  of  a  member  of  a  certain  Middle  West 
legislature  who  sought  an  appropriation  of  $100,000  for  the  protec- 
tion of  public  health ;  but  could  secure  only  $5,000.  One  morning 
he  put  upon  the  desk  of  each  legislator  before  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion, a  fable  which  ran  something  like  this :  A  sick  mother  with  a 
baby  is  told  by  a  physician  that  she  has  tuberculosis  and  that  she 
should  seek  a  higher  altitude.  Lack  of  means  prevents  her  going. 
She  applies  to  the  government  and  is  told  that  not  a  dollar  is  avail- 
able to  save  the  mother  and  her  child  from  death.  At  the  same  time 
a  farmer  observes  that  one  of  his  hogs  has  cholera  symptoms.  He 
sends  a  telegram,  collect,  to  the  government.  An  inspector  comes 
next  day,  treats  the  hog  with  serum  and  cures  it.  Moral :  Be  a  hog ! 
The  $100,000  appropriation  was  promptly  granted.    The  legislators 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


w  from  this  vmd  presentation  of  the  case  that  what  they  had  vari- 
ously called  economy,  common-sense,  husiness  is  business,  etc.,  was 
ally  putting  the  hog  above  the  child. 

Faith.  At  times  the  most  difficult  part  of  persuading 
those  already  convinced  of  the  desirability  of  a  course  of 
conduct,  is  to  make  them  believe  and  feel  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  try,  and  that  success  is  possible.  Other  voices 
_jmay  be  saying,  ''What 's  the  use?  You  can't  do  it." 
Faith  exhibited  by  the  speaker  himself  is  an  important 
element  in  overcoming  hopelessness;  but  there  is  room 
for  argument  for  the  probability  of  success,  for  citing 
examples  of  how  others  have  succeeded,  and  for  painting 
the  end  as  so  desirable  that  it  will  seem  worth  a  supreme 
effort.  Faith  is  also  greatly  increased  by  the  realiza- 
tionjthat  many  are  supporting  the  same  cause.  This 
sense  of  strong  support  may  be  given  by  securing  large 
attendance  at  meetings,  by  many  signers  to  petitions,  by 
the  citation  of  authorities,  and  by  organization. 

Value  of  organizations.  This  suggests  the  fact  that  it 
is  sometimes  worth  while  to  win  the  support  of  existing 
organizations,  or  even  to  form  a  new  society  to  promote 
your  cause.  An  organization  not  only  increases  faith ;  it 
provides  the  strength  of  united  action.  It  may  also  give  ^ 
greater  prestige ;  and  this  prestige  may  win  more  adher- 
ents than  the  simple  merit  of  the  cause  can  command. 
People  like  to  join  organizations,  just  to  ''belong";  and 
especially  they  like  to  join  organizations  that  promise  to 
become  popular.  Newspapers  are  more  likely  to  report 
the  doings  of  organizations  than  of  individuals ;  and  pub- 
licity is  necessary  to  most  causes.  The  prestige  of  an 
organization  also  affects  opponents  of  your  cause,  and 
makes  them  hesitate  to  resist.  Men  who  are  maintafti- 
ing  nuisances,  or  otherwise  acting  in  defiance  of  the  pub- 


PERSUASIO^[— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  211 


lie  good,  may  laiigh  at  the  attacks  of  individuals,  but  re- 
spect the  power  of  an  organized  body. 

But  quite  apart  from  the  power  and  prestige  of  or- 
ganizations, they  do  something  to  reduce  the  reluctance, 
strong  with  most  Americans,  to  make  a  fuss  over  evils 
and  inconveniences.  It  is  true  we  have  a  deal  of  muck- 
raking and  agitating ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  average 
American  will  endure  discourtesies,  bad  service,  and 
positive  fraud  and  injustice,  and  tolerate  evils  of  many- 
sorts,  rather  than  take  action.  It  is  not  merely  that  he 
is  absorbed  in  his  own  affairs:  he  has  a  fear  of  being 
thought  a  busybody,  of  having  it  said  that  he  is  always 
getting  excited  about  something.  Now,  this  reluctance 
to  take  action  against  evils  is  much  lessened  when  one  can 
act  in  an  organization ;  as  member,  for  example,  of  a 
'^Committee  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice.''  Then  there 
are  scores  of  those  who  will  pay  annual  dues,  or  report  a 
case  of  cruelty  to  animals,  who  would  not  take  independ- 
ent action;  and  so  through  an  organization  they  make 
it  possible  for  others  more  interested  or  more  courageous 
to  act. 

These  are  facts  proper  for  a  speaker  to  take  into  ac- 
count when  he  considers  how  to  make  his  plea  effective. 
But  it  would,  of  course,  be  absurd  to  form  organizations 
in  many  instances;  and  it  is  always  well  to  consider  if 
the  case  is  one  in  which  the  benefit  to  be  derived  will 
justify  the  attempt  to  add  to  the  organizations  of  a  com- 
munity, usually  altogether  too  numerous  for  the  busy 
people  who  are  expected  to  support  them. 

Manner  of  presenting  the  proposal.  It  is  plain  enough 
that  in  our  effort  to  secure  the  most  direct  and  exclusive 
a^ention  to  a  proposition,  the  method  of  presentation 
is  of  high  importance.    We  can  make  use,  therefore,  of 


PUBLIC  SPEAKINCj. 


all  that  we  have  learned  or  can  learn  ol^learness  and 
force,  of  all  that  makes  for  sustained  attention.  Variety, 
unity,  coherence  and  emphasis  are  never  more  important 
thaii  in  persuasion.  A  few  special  applications  of  what 
was  said  in  Chapter  VI  are  needed  here. 

Review  of  accepted  arguments.  We  are  considering 
persuasion  in  those  cases  in  which  our  conclusions  are 
already  assented  to  by  our  hearers.  Even  in  such  cases 
it  is  often  worth  while  to  review  the  arguments  for  the 
proposed  action,  and  thus  change  a  lightly  held  belief, 
liable  at  any  time  to  be  routed,  into  a  firm  convic- 
tion. At  another  time  we  may  find  argument  unwise; 
for  beliefs  accepted  from  fathers  and  teachers,  though 
unreasoned,  may  be  held  with  great  tenacity,  and  the  only 
effect  of  argument  may  be  to  create  a  questioning  state 
of  mind.  If  quick  action  is  desired,  the  argumenta- 
tive state  of  mind  is  undesirable.  Some  successful  lead- 
ers never  argue;  only  summon  and  command.  Other 
great  leaders,  like  Lincoln,  wish  their  followers  to  under- 
stand why  they  follow,  and  so  to  follow  more  intelligently. 

If  argument  is  used,  it  should  be  followed  by  discourse 
of  a  more  impulsive  character.  Also,  care  should  be 
taken  not  to  bore  your  hearers  by  arguments  in  stale  form 
or  to  provoke  resentment  by  arguing  as  if  they  were 
unbelievers.  The  air  of  recalling  and  reviewing  is  better 
than  that  of  presenting  something  new. 

Repetition.  We  are  likely  to  do  almost  anything  if  we 
are  urged  often  enough,  provided  we  are  not  driven  into 
hostility  by  tactless  urging.  Napoleon  is  said  to  have 
declared,  ^^that  there  is  only  one  figure  of  rhetoric  of 
serious  importance,  namely,  repetition."  Reiteration 
keeps  the  idea  of  an  action  before  the  mind  and  makes^t 
stick  there.  The  repetition  may  occur  in  the  same  speech, 
or  in  successive  speeches.    Delenda  est  Carthago  (Car- 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  213 


thage  must  be  destr*  yed)  thundered  the  old  Roman  Cato 
in  every  speech  he  made  for  years,  until  the  Roman 
people  took  up  the  task.  In  these  days  he  would  have 
supplemented  his  speeches  with  articles  in  the  press,  and 
perhaps  with  electric  signs.  In  political  campaigns  can- 
didates go  about  repeating  in  every  speech  their  keynotes ; 
such  as, ' '  Turn  the  rascals  out ! "  or,  ^ '  The  tariff  is  a  tax. ' ' 
^^He  kept  us  out  of  the  war,"  had  not  a  little  to  do 
with  the  reelection  of  President  Wilson  in  1916.  The 
whole  corps  of  party  speakers  may  repeat  the  phrase; 
and  though  opponents  may  ridicule  it  as  a  parrot  cry,  the 
repetition  counts.  The  candidate  who  is  clever  enough  to 
hit  upon  phrases  which  the  papers  will  take  up  gains 
greatly  by  their  repetition.  Advertisers  also  know  the 
value  of  multiplied  repetition  of  standard  phrases. 

But  repetition  is  not  limited  to  the  reiteration  of  set 
phrases.  The  set  phrase  has  the  advantage  that  there  is 
no  failure  to  identify  the  idea,  as  there  may  be  with 
varied  phraseology;  but  varied  statement  relieves  the 
monotony.  Monotony  may  also  be  relieved  by  giving  the 
stock  phrases  new  settings.  Examples  from  advertise- 
ments will  readily  occur  to  all.  Not  only  does  the  varied 
setting  relieve  monotony,  but  also  increases  the  prob- 
ability that  the  idea  will  eling- to  mind,  for  the  more 
associations  it  is  given  the  more  likely  they  are  to  return 
it  to  attention. 

Amplification.  The  idea  of  an  action  should  not  be 
repeated  merely,  but  also  developed.    Says  Genung :  ^ 

''For  purposes  of  persuasion  thoughts  should  be  pre- 
sented copiously.  It  is  a  case  where  repetition  of 
thoughts  in  many  aspects  and  phases,  and  body  of  am- 
plification secured  by  detail  and  illustration,  are  of  spe- 
cial service.    For  the  hearer's  mind  has  not  merely  to 

1  Working  Principles  of  RJietoric,  p.  653. 


214 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


catch  the  thought;  he  needs  to  be  saturated  with  it,  so 
that  he  may  carry  it  with  him  as  ai;  impulse  and  work- 
ing consciousness/' 

Under  Sustaining  Attention  in  Chapter  VI  are  given 
detailed  suggestions  in  regard  to  amplification.  We  may 
note  here  the  fact  that  the  more  frequently  the  idea  of  an 
action  and  the  reasons  for  it  are  brought  to  attention, 
and  the  longer  they  are  held  before  attention,  the  more 
likely  they  are  to  stick  in  memory  and  accomplish  their 
purpose.  But  there  must  be  vividness,  as  well  as  fre- 
quency of  presentation.  We  should  not  get  the  notion 
that  merely  harping  upon  an  idea  is  effective.  Moreover, 
elaboration  should  be  given  only  to  matters  which  deserve 
it,  and  a  speaker  should  be  keen  to  detect  when  his  audi- 
ence has  had  enough.  As  an  example  of  copious  treat- 
ment by  repetition  and  amplification,  of  an  idea  that 
needed  enforcement,  we  may  take  the  following  from 
Burke's  Conciliation  with  the  Colonies: 

^'The  question  with  me  is,  not  whether  you  have  a 
right  to  render  your  people  miserable,  but  whether  it  is 
not  your  interest  to  make  them  happy.  It  is  not  what  a 
lawyer  tells  me  I  may  do,  but  what  humanity,  reason  and 
justice  tell  me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic  act  the  worse 
for  being  a  generous  one?  Is  no  concession  proper  but 
that  which  is  made  from  3^our  want  of  right  to  keep 
what  you  grant  1  Or  does  it  lessen  the  grace  or  dignity 
of  relaxing  in  the  exercise  of  an  odious  claim  because  you 
have  your  evidence  room  full  of  titles,  and  your  maga- 
zines stuffed  wit^  arms  to  enforce  them?  What  signify 
all  those  titles,  and  all  those  arms?  Of  what  avail  are 
they,  when  the  reason  of  the  thing  tells  me  that  the  asser- 
tion of  my  title  is  the  loss  of  my  suit,  and  that  I  could 
do  nothing  but  wound  myself  by  the  use  of  my  own 
weapons? 

'SSuch  is  steadfastly  my  opinion  of  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  keeping  up  the  concord  of  this  empire  by  a  unity 


PERSL  ^SION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  215 


of  spirit,  though  in  a  diversity  of  operations,  that  if  I 
were  sure  the  colonists  had  at  their  leaving  this  country, 
sealed  a  regular  compact  of  servitude,  that  they  had 
solemnly  abjured  all  the  rights  of  citizens,  that  they  had 
made  a  vow  to  renounce  all  ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and 
their  posterity  to  all  generations ;  yet  I  should  hold  my- 
self obliged  to  conform  to  the  temper  I  found  universally 
prevalent  in  my  own  day,  and  to  govern  two  millions  of 
men,  impatient  of  servitude,  on  the  principles  of  free- 
dom. I  am  not  determining  a  point  of  law ;  I  am  restor- 
ing tranquillity ;  and  the  general  character  and  situation 
of  a  people  must  determine  what  sort  of  government  is 
fitted  for  them.  That  point  nothing  else  can  or  ought  to 
determine. ' ' 

Compare  the  speeches  of  Brutus  and  Antony,  in  Julius  Ccesar,  in 
regard  to  repetition  and  amplification,  and  also  concreteness. 

Concrete  and  specific  expression.  It  is  of  high  im- 
portance to  persuasion  that  abstractions  should  become 
to  the  audience  realities.  Abstractions  are  cold,  removed 
from  emotion,  which  belongs  to  things,  experiences  and 
persons.  Our  jpresest^tion  must  come  into  the  experi- 
ence of  oiirJiearersf^mlTTu^  pansp  real,  tiingfble  and 
personal  to  them.  Says  Presfdent"Lowell :  ^  ' '  The  mass 
of  mankind  has  more  sympathy  with  the  fortunes  of  an 
individual  than  vrith  the  fate  of  principles. ' '  Our  cause 
must,  also,  to  revert  to  Dewey's  definitions  of  concrete, 
be  made  familiar  to  our  audience  and  be  made  to  appear 
practical. 

Our  presertation  should  be  not  only  concrete,  but  also 
specific.  '^Emotion,"  says  Foster,^  *^is  concerned  with 
particulars  rather  than  with  generals. ' '  We  talk  of  love 
for  mankind,  but  our  genuine  feeling  is  for  individuals. 
You  may  dr^^w  money  from  the  habitually  charitable 
for  the  suffering  children  of  a  city;  but  you  can  draw 

1  Puhlic  Opinutn  and  Popular  Oovernmenty  p.  53. 

2  Exposition  and  Argument,  p.  146. 


216 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


much  more  if  you  Vv^ill  describe  one  little  tot  suffering 
in  a  tenement  and  show  us  the  farm  you  wish  to  take 
him  to.  The  one  case  is  more  tangible,  easier  to  focus 
upon ;  it  seems  more  possible  for  one  unimportant  person 
to  deal  with  it.  To  urge  me  to  do  my  political  duties 
is  not  nearly  so  effective  as  to  urge  me  to  go  to  the  pri- 
maries next  Tuesday  night  and  work  for  Thomas  Jones 
for  mayor.  To  ask  a  friend  to  visit  you  is  less  effective 
than  to  ask  him  to  come  next  Wednesday.  Men  do  not 
fight  for  rights,  but  for  a  right.  An  effective  battle  cry 
names  a  specific  goal:  ^^On  to  Richmond!"  ^^On  to 
Paris!'' 

I  cannot  agree  with  Shurter,  however,  that  "generalizations  have 
no  persuasive  value."  i  We  must  often  regret  that  the  "glittering 
generality"  has  quite  too  much  influence  over  shallow  minds,  over 
those  of  the  "little  education"  which  has  been  called  "a  dangerous 
thing,"  those  who  "think  they  think."  Innumerable  fads,  *'new" 
movements,  pseudo-religions  and  philosophies,  have  their  vogue 
through  the  too  ready  acceptance  of  generalities,  which  have  little 
effect  upon  the  clear  thinking  or  upon  the  slow-moving  uneducated 
mind,  which  is  slow  to  grasp  generalizations.  The  best  way  to  meet 
these  thin  preachments  is  to  demand  a  reduction  of  the  generalities 
to  concrete,  specific  terms.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  generalities 
belong  rather  to  the  supposed  philosophical  bases  of  these  movements 
than  to  their  practical  teachings.  These  usually  include  tangible 
lines  of  conduct,  such  as  relaxation  and  deep  breathing,  or  walking 
barefoot  in  the  dew. 

As  a  rule,  the  specific  statement  is  more  persuasive 
than  the  general,  and  this  is  especially  true  with  those 
people  best  worth  winning.  A  generaliz  action  is  most 
effective  when  it  is  a  striking  summary  of  Jthbught  already 
in  mind.  A  short  crystalli2dng  statement  may  put  the 
thought  in  a  form  easy  to  fasten  attention  upon.  **The 
rich  are  growing  richer  and  the  poor  poorer,"  owes  its 
force  to  its  being  a  positive  statement  of  a  common  belief. 

1  Rhetoric  of  Oratory,  p.  118. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  217 


A  sweeping  political  claim,  such  as  Mr.  Roosevelt  made 
before  the  National  Progressive  Convention  in  1912, 
^'The  Democratic  and  Eepublican  organizations  repre- 
sent government  of  the  needy  many  by  professional 
politicians  in  the  interest  of  the  rich  few^,"  will  draw 
great  applause  from  an  audience  in  thorough  accord. 
There  is  a  boldness,  a  positiveness  and  an  authoritative- 
ness  about  such  statements,  which,  given  right  conditions, 
is  effective;  but  their  effectiveness  is  limited  largely  to 
the  uncritical,  either  the  naturally  uncritical  or  those  un- 
critical because  already  won. 

Whether  one  should  come  at  once  in  a  speech  to  the 
specific  aspects  of  his  proposition,  has  to  be  decided  in 
the  light  of  conditions.  The  more  natural  order  seems  to 
be  to  state  first  the  general  ideas  and  purposes ;  but  there 
are  times  when  the  particular  suggestion  will  be  more 
welcome  than  the  general.  People  will  listen  more 
readily  to  a  particular  scheme  of  social  amelioration,  such 
as  old  age  pensions,  than  to  a  general  discussion  of  social 
wrongs,  which  may  sound  socialistic.  But  if  one  were 
basing  his  plea  upon  such  familiar  conceptions  as  justice 
and  humanity,  some  emphasis  upon  these  might  pave  the 
way  for  a  somewhat  radical  proposal. 

A  speech  by  a  young  woman  upon  Feminism  illustrated  an  aa- 
vantage  and  a  disadvantage  of  a  purely  general  treatment.  By  de- 
fending feminism  in  general  terms  only,  she  avoided  raising  the 
objections  sure  to  be  awakened  by  specific  statements  of  ways  in 
which  some  women  wish  *'to  live  their  own  lives" ;  but  since  her 
audience  had  but  vague  ideas  of  feminism,  she  won  assent  to  a 
vague  proposition  only  and  really  gained  ne  ground.  She  had  made 
only  a  good  beginning. 

Imagination  and  persuasion.  Among  the  sayings  at- 
tributed to  Napoleon  is  this:  Imagination  rules  the 
world. "  * '  The  orator, ' '  says  an  Eastern  proverb, ' '  is  one 
who  can  change  ears  into  eyes. ' '    We  are  already  familiar 


218  PUBLIC  SPEAkiiNu 

with  the  hold  of  imagery  upon  attention  and  its  power 
to  stir  emotions.  If  you  wish  to  induce  a  muscular 
student,  who  knows  nothing  of  the  sport,  to  join  the  foot- 
ball squad,  take  him  to  see  a  game.  If  you  would  check 
a  friend  from  dissipation,  show  him  the  results  in  human 
.  form.    But  if  you  cannot  bring  them  face  to  face  with 

■  the  objedtive  realities,  then  with  word  pictures  you  must 
make  these  mental  realities.  The  speaker  who  has  power 
to  make  his  hearers  live  in  the  scenes  he  portrays  can 

■  move  them  almost  at  will. 

Imagination  can  be  appealed  to  in  the  use  of  illustra- 
tive matter.  The  great  preacher  Whitefield,  whose 
persuasive  power  was  so  great  that  he  made  Benjamin 
Franklin  throw  all  his  money  into  a  collection  for  a  cause 
he  did  not  approve,  once  described  a  vessel  in  peril  of  a 
storm  so  vividly,  that  when  he  cried  out,  *'What  shall  we 
doT^  a  sailor  in  the  congregation  leaped  to  his  feet  shout- 
ing, ^  ^  For  God 's  sake,  cut  the  ropes ! ' ' 

Emerson  has  emphasized  the  force  of  a  tersely  put 
image :  ^ 

^^The  orator  must  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  poet.  We 
are  such  imaginative  creatures,  that  nothing  so  works  on 
the  human  mind,  barbarous  or  civilized  as  a  trope  [fig- 
ure of  speech].  Condense  some  daily  experience  into  a 
glowing  symbol,  and  an  audience  is  electrified.  ...  It  is 
a  wonderful  aid  to  memory,  which  carries  away  the 
image,  and  never  loses  it.  A  popular  assembly,  like  the 
House  of  Commons,  or  the  French  Chamber,  or  the 
American  Congress,  is  commanded  by  these  two  powers, 
— first  by  a  fact,  tyhen  b}^  skill  of  statement.  Put  the 
argument  into  a  concrete  shape,  into  an  image, — some 
hard  phrase,  round  and  solid  as  a  ball,  which  tliey  can 
see  and  handle  and  carry  home  with  them, — und  the 
cause  is  half  won.'' 

1  Essay  on  Eloquence. 


PEKSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  219 


As  illustrations  we  may  take.  *'Remember  the  Alamo and  Pres- 
ident McKinley's  question  in  rsigard  to  keeping  the  Philippines, 
"Who  shall  haul  down  the  flag?"  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  been  particu- 
larly happy  in  making  phrases  which  stick  to  memory  and  exert  an 
influence ;  such  as  "muckraker"  and  "nature-fakir."  Would  not  the 
excellent  cause  called  "conservation  of  nat'^vr^  '^sources/'  have  won 
stronger  popular  support  had  it  been  bsi^Ai^Kid  with  a  less  abstract 
name?    To  what  would  you  attribute  the  force  of  the  phrases 

i  "Safety  first"  and  "the  invisible  government"?    Is  "preparedness" 

!  a  good  term? 

The  Welsh  statesman  Lloyd-George  has  rare  power  with  popular 
audiences.  In  the  following  extract  he  gives  a  fine  image  to  carry 
home,  by  telling  this  story  of  an  old  Welsh  preacher : 

"He  was  conducting  a  funeral  service  over  a  poor  fellow  who 
had  had  a  very  bad  time  through  life  without  any  fault  of  his  owu. 
They  could  hardly  find  a  space  in  the  churchyard  for  his  tomb.  At 
last  they  got  enough  to  make  a  brickless  grave  amid  towering  monu- 
ments that  pressed  upon  it,  and  the  minister,  standing  above  it, 
said :  'W^ell,  Davie,  you  have  had  a  narrow  time  right  through  life 
and  you  have  a  very  narrow  place  in  death ;  but  never  you  mind,  old 
friend,  I  can  see  a  day  dawning  for  you  when  you  will  rise  out  of 
your  narrow  bed  and  call  out  to  all  these  big  people,  "Elbow  room 
for  the  poor."  '  " 

Do  not  suppose  that  the  power  of  imagery  lies  only  in 
magnificent  figures  and  elaborate  word-painting,  such  as 
are  found  in  the  peroration  of  Webster 's  Reply  to  Hayne, 
or  in  his  reconstruction  of  the  tragedy  in  his  argument 
in  the  Captain  Joseph  White  murder  case.  Vivid 
imagery  may  be  found  in  the  simplest  speeches.  The  stu- 
dent in  my  class  who  urged  the  adoption  of  a  new  method 
of  handling  traffic  at  city  crossings  had  to  make  vivid  to 
us  conditions  as  they  are  and  as  they  would  be  under 
the  proposed  system,  and  his  success  was  in  proportion 
to  the  vividness  of  our  imagery. 

Exposition  and  persuasion.  To  no  means  of  persuasion 
do  I  find  myself  referring  oftener  in  practical  teaching 
than  that  of  exposition ;  that  is,  bringing  into  the  hearer's 
imagination  how  the  plan  will  work  out.  The  proposed 
action,  or  method,  is  in  many  instances,  vague  in  the 
hearer 's  mind.    It  is  unfamiliar,  remote,  unreal ;  perhaps 


220 


PUBLIC  Si  EAKING 


iinpleasant,  unprofitable,  or  dishonorable,  because  un- 
usual. Perhaps  he  cannot  conceive  it  at  all ;  or  he  con- 
ceives it  imperfectly  and  imagines  all  sorts  of  obstacles. 
The  best  ansvi^er  to  such  objections  is,  Come  and  see. 
Come  and  see  the  new  and  efficient  method  of  handling 
goods,  of  cleaning  up  a  community,  or  of  governing  a  city. 
But  usually  the  seeing  must  be  through  clear  exposition 
and  word  pictures.  Vivid  exposition  is  persuasive  be- 
cause it  fixes  attention,  and  because  it  makes  the  course 
proposed  seem  real  and  feasible;  perhaps  familiar  and 
well  established,  rather  than  strange  and  extraordinary. 
X  '  Images  of  motion.  Many  authorities  agree  that  ' '  an 
^idea  always  has  a  motor  consequence,  however  obscure, 
j  Whenever  a  definite  idea  is  formed,  there  is  a  tendency 
toward  action. ' '  No  one  will  question  the  further  state- 
ment that  this  tendency  is  '*most  plainly  seen  in  those 
ideas  which  suggest  some  particular  movement.  ...  A 
motor  idea,  unless  restrained,  tends  to  go  out  immedi- 
ately in  definite  action. "  ^ 

By  the  term  images  of  motion  I  wish  to  indicate  more  than  is 
usually  understood  by  motor  images,  which  refers  to  images  corre- 
sponding to  muscular  effort.  I  am  stirred  by  visual  images  of  a  foot- 
ball game,  mental  pictures  of  the  players  dashing  about  the  field,  and 
by  sound  images  of  the  sharp  signals  and  the  shouts  of  the  crowd, 
and  by  tactual  images  of  the  impact  of  bodies,  as  well  as  by  the 
"twisting,  straining  and  writhing  of  every  muscle,  tendon  and 
joint." 

Beyond  a  doubt,  vivid  images  of  men  in  action,  of 
busy  teeming  life,  have  persuasive  force.  The  dramatic 
recital  of,  How  we  won  the  race  at  Poughkeepsie,  brings 
the  recruits  thronging  to  the  crew  room.  The  impulse 
to  emulate  and  to  imitate  are  working  here,  but  these  are 
not  awakened  to  the  same  degree  by  less  vivid  speech. 

Making  the  hearer  see  himself.    The  most  potent  appeal 

1  Halleek,  Psychology  and  Psychic  CulturCf  p.  317. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  221 

to  imagination  is  that  which  makes  your  hearer  see  him- 
self in  certain  situations  or  doing  certain  actions.  This 
touches  the  mainspring  of  enthusiasm  and  ambition.  It 
is  also  a  means  of  restraint,  enabling  one  to  value  a  future 
good  above  an  immediate  pleasure,  or  to  realize  a  future 
evil;  or,  again,  it  may  make  one  realize  an  anticipated 
pleasure  so  intensely  that  the  future  evil  fades  from  view. 
* '  "Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  cast  off  restraint. ' '  ^ 

"No,  I  cannot  go  fishing  with  you,"  says  your  friend ;  *'I  have 
this  work  to  finish."  "But,"  you  persist,  "just  think  of  the  woods  ! 
Just  think  of  pulling  out  those  speckled  beauties !  Remember  that 
time,  etc."  A  faraway  look  comes  into  the  enthusiast's  eyes,  and  he 
leaps  to  his  feet  with  a  "Work  be  hanged  !"  In  other  words,  "I  will 
not  give  work  attention."  A  boy  persuading  his  friend  to  quit  the 
woodpile  and  come  play  ball,  makes  the  friend  see  himself  pitching  to 
the  glorious  discomfiture  of  the  rival  gang.  Fear  of  a  father's  wrath 
must  take  the  form  of  a  vivid  woodshed  experience  to  oust  that  pic- 
ture. The  same  boys,  visioning  their  futures  in  day  dreams,  build- 
ing castles  in  Spain,  are  roused  to  enthusiasm  and  ambition  as  they 
see  themselves  building  bridges  over  chasms,  piling  up  fortunes  in 
business,  riding  at  the  head  of  their  troops,  pleading  irresistibly  in 
the  courts,  or  it  may  be,  helping  the  unfortunate. 

A  city  or  a  nation  may  have  its  visions  too.  The  engineer  who  can 
put  into  the  minds  of  the  city  fathers  a  vision  of  life  in  an  im- 
proved town,  may  win  a  contract  for  the  improvements ;  the  leader 
who  can  make  a  people  see  itself  dominant  in  the  world,  may  inspire 
them  to  incredible  sacrifices. 

So  the  short  and  simple  prescription  is:  Make^your 
hewers  ae^thmii^filves  ig^^  doixigTtEe^  adL, 

you  desire.  Translate  duties  into  visions.  Make  that 
athletic  team  see  itself  carried  off  the  field,  or  bringing 
home  the  laurels  of  victory  to  lay  at  Alma  Mater's  feet. 
Make  that  prison  audience  see  themselves  living  normal, 
honest,  respected  lives.  Or,  if  you  wish  to  check  an 
action  or  tendency,  make  the  student  who  would  cheat 
under  the  honor  system  see  himself  ostracized. 

1  Proverbs,  29:18,  revised  version. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Such  appeals  to  the  imagination  sometimes  succeed  because  the 
speaker  omits  either  the  pleasing  or  the  displeasing  features  of  a 
situ.:tiari.  One  pleading  for  declaration  of  war  might  win  his  cau^e 
by  making  his  hearers  glimpse  the  glory  of  an  heroic  struggle ;  but 
his  opponent  might  chill  their  ardor  by  painting  a  picture  of  the 
horrors  of  war.  Such  practices  may  raise  an  evident  moral  question. 
We  certainly  feel  it  justifiable  to  fix  the  attention  of  men  upon  the 
rewards  rather  than  upon  the  hardships  of  a  worthy  enterprise,  in 
order  that  they  may  draw  courage  to  endure ;  but  this  sort  of  exag- 
geration has  its  moral  limits. 

The  superiority  of  expression  which  is  specific,  concrete 
and  imaginative,  over  abstract  and  general  presentation 
lies  m  its  j30werjto^Sx^Hte^^  to  memory. 

But  we  should  not  over-emphasize  any  one  method  of 
presentation;  any  form  of  expression  which  does  fix 
attention  and  impress  memory  may  be  persuasive. 

Suggestion.  A  new  meaning  :uOr  an  old  word  has  crept 
into  common  speech,  The  new  and  technical  meaning 
of  the  word  suggestion  is  plainly  enough  derived  from  its 
older  sense,  as  seen  in  the  phrase,  Don't  suggest  it  to 
him, ' '  which  carries  the  implication  that  if  you  do,  he  will 
act  upon  the  suggestion.  We  have  heard  much  of  the 
evil  of  the  exploitation  of  crime  in  the  papers  and  in  mov- 
ing pictures  because  of  their  suggestion  to  the  young.  No 
definition  of  suggestion  satisfactory  for  our  purpose  has 
been  found,  and  authorities  do  not  agree ;  ^  but  it  will 
suffice  to  say  that  ivJwn  w^  external 
to  ourselves,  and  without  deliberation,  we  act  upon  sug- 
gestion.   The  response  is  automatic. 

A  popular  discussion  of  suggestion  will  be  found  in  Scott's  Influ- 
encing Men  in  Business.  This  book  has  the  advantages  of  being 
written  for  those  untrained  in  psychology  by  one  well  versed  in  the 
science,  and  also  of  being  written  from  the  standpoint  of  persuasion. 
In  this  work  2  Professor  Scott  says  that  while  the  subject  of  sugges- 

1  See  Titchener's  Textbook,  p.  449,  Scott's  Psychology  of  Adver- 
tising, p.  80  and  McDougall,  Social  Psychology,  p.  97, 

2  P.  30. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  223 


tion  has  been  made  ridiculous  by  writers  who  have  presented  it  as 
the  open  sesame  to  success,  still  *'in  moving  and  inspiring  men,  sug- 
gestion is  to  be  considered  in  every  way  the  equal  of  logical  reason- 
ing, and  as  such  is  to  be  made  the  subject  of  consideration  foi 
every  man  who  is  interested  in  influencing  his  fellow  men." 

' '  The  working  of  suggestion, ' '  says  Scott,^ '  ^  is  depend- 
ent upon  the  impulsive,  dynamic  nature  of  ideas.  .  .  . 
We  conceive  of  ideas  as  being  nothing  more  than  formal, 
inert  reasons  and  assume  that  to  secure  action  we  must 
add  to  our  ideas  the  activity  of  the  will.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  .  .  .  ideas  are  the  most  live  things  in  the  universe. 
They  are  dynamic  and  lead  to  action.  This  dynamic, 
impulsive  nature  of  ideas  is  expressed  in  the  following 
law: 

Every  idea  of  an  action  iirill  result  in  that  action^ 
imless  hindered  by  an  impeding  idea  or  physical  impedij 
nient, 

'  *  The  dynamic  nature  of  ideas  is  further  shown  by  the 
fact  which  is  expressed  in  the  following  general  law : 

Every  idea,  concept  or  conclusion  which  enters  the 
mind  is  held  as  true  unless  hindered  by  some  contradic-  j 
tory  idea/' 

The  most  significant  feature  of  suggestion  is  that  it 
secures  assent  directly,  without  reasons  for  beliefs  or 
motives  for  action.  These  may  exist,  but  they  are  not 
in  mind.  There  is  no  deliberation  and  criticism,  for  no 
opposing  or  inhibiting  ideas  are  thought  of.  Full  atten- 
tion is  given  at  once  to  the  suggested  idea.  When  I 
accept  an  idea  from  command,  fashion,  tradition,  instruc- 
tion, convention,  example,  or  personal  influence,  or  what 
Ross  sums  up  ^  as  ''social  pressure,"  without  deliberation, 
I  am  governed  by  suggestion.  If  I  consider  thus:  It 
is  a  tradition  in  my  family  to  belong  to  the  Republican 

3  Influencing  Men  in  Business,  p.  37> 
Social  Control,  p.  MS, 


224 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


party ;  I  will  therefore  become  a  Republican ;  or,  It  is  the 
proper  thing  to  wear  a  white  tie  with  a  dress  coat ;  I  will 
obey  the  convention, — I  am  not  acting  under  suggestion. 
But  if  I  do  these  things  without  considering  the  possibil- 
ity of  doing  otherwise,  then  I  act  on  suggestion. 

You  have  noticed  that  all  this  is  quite  in  line  with  our  theory  of 
persuasion ;  and,  indeed,  the  quotations  from  Scott  seem  but  a  re- 
statement of  that  theory.  But  suggestion  is  only  one  phase  of  per- 
suasion. Some  of  the  means  of  persuasion  we  have  already  dis- 
cussed might  be  placed  under  suggestion,  but  not  the  presentation  of 
motives,  or  any  means  that  involves  argument  and  deliberation. 
The  term  suggestion  is  not  necessary  to  our  treatment;  but  it  al- 
ready has  a  place  in  popular  discussions  and  it  furnishes  a  convenient 
terminology  for  discussing  certain  phenomena,  especially  the  con- 
duct of  crowds. 

Methods  of  suggestion.  Eep^tition  and  amplification 
are  important  means  of  suggestion,  when  they  do  not 
provoke  critical  consideration.  Such  repetition  is  well 
illustrated  by  advertisements.  It  is  said  that  the  phrase, 
*'Just  get  the  Delineator,"  repeated  over  and  over  again 
in  advertisements  in  periodicals  and  on  bill  boards,  some 
years  ago,  drove  hundreds  of  men  with  no  natural  interest 
in  its  contents,  to  buy  the  magazine.  Imagery  is  another 
potent  means  of  suggestion,  and  figur'es  of  speech  are 
especially  emphasized  by  Scott,  tndee^,  any  striking 
means  of  fixing  attention  may^  be  used  in  suggestion. 

Authority  and  suggestion.  ^  All  writers  upon  suggestion 
emphasize  the  force  of  authoritj^^nd  .^restiga.  .  Ideas 
presented  to  us  by  one  who  commands  our  respect, 
either  in  general  or  with  reference  to  the  matter  in  hand, 
are  often  accepted  without  question.  Their  effect,  which 
is  distinct  from  that  of  authorities  presented  in  an  argu- 
ment to  be  weighed  along  with  other  evidence,  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  no  doubts  arise  to  divide  attention."^^  When 
a  child  accepts  the  statements  of  his  father  as  absolute 


PERSUASION— INFLUENC 


truth,  we  have  an  example  of  authority  as  suggestion. 
A  friend  of  mine  who  accepts  any  statement  made  by 
Mr.  Roosevelt  as  truth,  acts  on  suggestion;  and  another 
friend  who  rejects  any  statement  by  the  same  gentleman 
acts  on  contra-suggestion.  The  soldier's  unquestioning 
obedience  also  illustrates  suggestion. 

A  speaker  can  make  use  of  authority  by  way  of  quota- 
tion from  those  greatly  respected.  Some  can  speak  as 
authorities  themselves.  A  speaker's  authoritativeness 
is  increased  by  judicious  advertising  of  his  coming,  and 
by  a  degree  of  formality  and  dignity  in  the  conduct  of 
the  meeting.  He  should  not  scorn  taking  some  pains  to 
secure  announcements  which,  while  they  provoke  inter- 
est in  advance,  do  not  suggest  a  cheap,  sensational  speech ; 
also  to  secure  a  proper  place  for  speaking  and  suitable 
arrangements  for  the  conduct  of  his  meeting.^ 

The  impulse  to  imitate.  The  impulse  to  imitate,  strong- 
est in  children,  whose  play  is  attempt  after  attempt  to 
repeat  the  actions  of  their  elders,  is  also  strong  in  adults, 
though  checked  somewhat  by  judgment  and  habit.  One 
yawns  and  a  whole  company  yawns.  We  often  see  one 
who  watches  the  movements  of  another  with  absorbed  in- 
terest, unconsciously  making  imitative  movements.  It  is 
not  often  that  a  speaker  can  perform  upon  the  platform 
actions  which  he  wishes  his  audience  to  imitate ;  though 
he  may  at  times,  as  when  he  subscribes  liberally  to  the 
cause  for  which  he  appeals.  But  he  may  be  able  to  stir 
the  impulse  to  imitate  by  bringing  vividly  into  imagina- 
tion pictures  of  others  doing  what  he  wishes  them  to  do, 
as  fighting  on  the  battlefield,  the  gridiron,  or  in  the  politi- 
cal arena.  The  speaker  who  is  himself  an  embodiment 
of  his  cause,  who  is  known  to  his  hearers  to  have  done 

1  The  authoritativeness  of  the  speaker  will  be  more  fully  dis- 
cussed in  the  next  daapter. 


C  ^PEAKING 


calls  upon  them  to  do,  will 
pecuUarh'-  r'^^^nrrjt  if  utation.  Soldiers  distinguished  for 
gallant  conduct  are  effective  pleaders  for  enlistment  in 
England  during  the  European  war. 
r-'  Social  suggestion.  Greater  than  the  impulse  to  imitate 
\  single  acts  is  the  tendency  to  yield  to  environment,  cus- 
tom, convention  and  common  opinion.  Our  submission 
to  these  forces  is  due  not  merely  to  conscious  fear  of  what 
our  neighbors  or  Mrs.  Grundy  may  say ;  but  it  is  largely 
the  result  of  ^^mass  suggestion.''  Certain  ideas  are  sug- 
gested to  us  on  every  hand ;  they  are  constantly  brought 
jtQ  attention,  and  win  by  reiteration.  Doubt,  criticism 
land  deliberation  in  regard  to  them  rarely  get  a  chance. 

^  Everything  we  do  reveals  the  pull  on  conduct  ex- 
erted by  social  pressure.  Our^  foods  and  drinks,  our 
dress  and  furniture,  our  religious  emotions,  our  invest- 
ments, and  even  our  matrimonial  choices  confess  the 
sway  of  fashion  and  vogue.  AVhatever  is  common 
reaches  us  by  way  of  example  or  advice  or  intimidation 
from  a  hundred  directions.  In  our  most  private  choices 
we  are  swerved  from  our  orbit  by  the  solar  attraction — 
or  repulsion — of  the  conventional.  In  public  opinion 
there  is  something  which  is  not  praise  or  blame,  and  this 
residuum  is  mass  suggestion. ' '  A^jpaan  obeys  this  ' '  social 
imperative,"  not  because  he  decides  that  it  is  wise  to 
obey,  ^*but  because  he  feels  that  he  must."  Those  who 
do  not  obey  are  the  deliberate  criminal  and  the  moral 
insurgent. ' ' 

People  of  narrow  orbit — children,  farmers'  wives, 
spinsters,  peasants,  fishermen,  humble  village  folk,  often 
soldiers  and  sailors — are  slaves  to  an  imposed  sense  of 
obligation.  Prolonged  exposure  to  a  circle  or  group  that 
speaks  always  with  the  same  decision,  the  same  commands, 
benumbs  the  will  over  whole  areas  of  choice.  On  the 
other  hand,  whatever  breaks  the  clench  of  the  environ- 
ment or  invigorates  the  will, — liberal  education,  discus- 


%  Uosf:t,  Social  Control,  p.  148, 


F  ^^RSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  227 


sion,  travel,  varied  experience,  contact  with  new  types  of 
men,  leadership,  new  ideas  and  wants,  changes  in  general 
opinion  or  intellectual  progress, — these  undermine  the 
tyranny  of  group  suggestions.  .  .  .  Old  colleges,  uni- 
versities, monasteries,  senates,  academies,  administrative 
departments,  army  and  navy,  ancient  families  and  quiet 
neighborhoods  become  the  haunt  of  traditions  that  cast  a 
spell  over  those  who  come  within  their  reach. ' ' 

The  speaker  who  can  make  his  audience  feel  the  social 
imperative  pushing  them  in  the  direction  he  wishes  them 
to  go,  has  a  powerful  weapon.  This  force  will  most  often 
be  available  to,  repress  radical  action,  or  to  turn  men 
from  courses  deemed  immoral  by  their  communities.  To 
use  this  force  in  suppoil  of  unconventional  or  radical 
proposals,  it  is  necessary  to  show  that  other  and  respected 
communities  are  acting,  in  accord  with  the  course  pro- 
posed. Sometimes  one  can  show  that  the  larger  com- 
munity of  which  the  body  addressed  forms  a  part,  has 
adopted  the  proposal.  There  is  much  influence,  also,  in 
the  vague  ^'they''  who  are  doing  so  and  so,  or  who  are 
no  longer  doing  so  and  so.  In  bringing  to  bear  the  in- 
fluence of  other  environments,  we  see  again  the  part  of 
imagination. 

We  can  appreciate  the  force  of  the  above  by  reflecting  upon  the 
change  produced  in  our  interests,  opinions  and  morals  by  changing 
from  one  environment  to  another  widely  differing,  as  from  a  country 
village  to  a  large  city.  Again,  we  see  college  students  filled  with 
tremendous  zeal  for  all  the  enterprises  of  student  life  and  pledging 
undying  loyalty  to  Alma  Mater;  and  we  see  many  of  these  same  men 
going  out  to  forget  her  entirely  in  a  new  environment,  which  influ- 
ences them  in  the  same  way.  Now,  if  a  speaker  has  the  power  to 
make  them  live  again  the  old  life,  he  can  make  them  feel  again  the  old 
obligations. 

Immediate  action.  Suggestion  prompts  to  immediate 
action ;  and  this  is  one  of  its  advantages  over  argument. 
But  this  advantage  suggests  a  corresponding  disadvan." 


228 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tage.  Normal  suggestibility  requires  immediate  execu- 
tion as  one  of  its  most  indispensable  conditions. "  ^  It 
is  wise,  therefore,  to  provide  some  immediate  outlet  for 
the  impulse.  Advertisers  provide  a  coupon  to  tear  off 
and  send  at  once,  and  make  this  as  convenient  as  possible. 
' '  Do  it  to-day, ' '  they  urge.  ' '  Obey  that  impulse, ' ' — right 
away.  Stamped  and  directed  envelopes  are  sent  out  with 
circulars.  So  speakers  ask  their  hearers  to  do  something 
at  once,  to  make  a  beginning  by  signing  a  card  or  a  peti- 
tion, to  vote  for  a  resolution  already  prepared,  to  stand 
up,  to  join  an  organization,  to  subscribe  at  once  though 
.  payment  be  not  convenient  till  later.  They  gain  immedi- 
ate assent  in  some  form,  if  only  vigorous  applause  for  a 
sentiment  thrown  out  for  the  purpose  of  giving  rein  to 
the  awakened  impulse,  and  of  getting  assent  before  there 
is  time  for  doubt. 

Direct  and  indirect  suggestion.  In  dealing  with  weak 
persons  the  direct  command  is  often  most  effective;  but 
a  weak  person  who  suspects  that  he  is  being  treated  as 
w^eak,  may  resist  with  great  stubbornness.  The  direct 
Suggestion  is  in  order  when  one  is  in  authority  over  those 
addressed ;  yet  it  is  noticeable  that  men  of  great  authority 
use  it  less  than  those  of  little.  While  there  are  times 
when  the  speaker  should  speak  with  authority,  either  his 
own  or  that  of  the  power  he  represents ;  yet  direct  com- 
mand or  suggestion  must  be  used  with  circumspection, 
lest  it  arouse  hostility.  One  may  say  at  times,  ''Why 
not  do  so  and  so, "  or,  ' '  Let 's  do  so  and  so, "  or,  ' '  I  sug- 
gest," or,  ''So  and  so  suggests." 

Indirect  suggestion  is  most  effective  when  our  hearers 
arrive  at  the  desired  conclusion  before  it  is  fully  ex- 
pressed, and  the  expression  comes  as  a  confirmation  of  a 
conclusion  they  have  seemed  to  arrive  at  unaided.    If  an 

1  Sidis.  The  Psychology  of  Suggestiofif  p.  88, 


PERSU  ASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  229 


acquaintance  manages  to  get  you  interested  in  his  needs 
so  that  the  thought  of  lending  him  money  comes  to  you, . 
he  is  more  likely  to  get  help  than  if  he  asked  you  out- 
right. It  is  often  best  for  the  speaker  to  ask,  ''What 
shall  we  do  ? "  provided  he  has  insured  the  right  answer- 
by  suggestion. 

A  book  agent  employs  direct  suggestion  when  he  leans  toward  one 
with  blank  and  pencil,  saying,  "Sign  here."  We  have  to  admit  the 
trick  is  effective.  Even  if  we  resist  it,  we  feel  its  pull.  But  when 
we  realize  the  trick  we  resent  it  to  the  undoing  of  the  agent,  so  far 
as  that  sale  is  concerned. 

Contra-suggestion.   We  can  employ  also  contra-sugges^ 
tion,  of  which  McDougall  says :  ^ 

''By  this  word  it  is  usual  to  denote  the  mode  of  action 
of  one  individual  on  another  which  results  in  the  second 
accepting,  in  the  absence  of  adequate  logical  grounds, 
the  contrary  of  the  proposition  asserted  or  implied  by  the 
agent.  There  are  persons  with  whom  this  result  is  very 
liable  to  be  produced  by  an  attempt  to  exert  suggestive 
influence,  or  even  by  the  most  ordinary  or  casual  utter-  . 
ance.  One  remarks  to  such  a  person.  ...  'I  think  you 
ought  to  take  a  holiday, '  and,  though  he  had  himself  con- '' 
templated  this  course,  he  replies,  'No,  I  don't  need  one/ 
and  becomes  immovably  fixed  in  that  opinion. ' ' 

Do  we  not  all  feel  the  force  of  contra-suggestion  when 
we  see  a  sign,  "Hands  off,''  or  "Keep  off  the  grass." 
While  a  reasonably  confident  and  positive  manner  is 
certainly  better  than  a  weak  and  fawning  manner,  it  is 
plain  that  positiveness  can  easily  be  overdone,  and  that 
indirect  suggestion  is  often  needed. 

Mark  Antony's  speech  in  Julius  Cwsar  is  a  famous  illustration  of 
both  indirect  and  contra-suggestion.  Another  illustration  of  contra- 
suggestion  is  found  in  lago's  words  to  Othello,  after  subtly  leading 
the  latter  to  believe  Desdemona  untrue,  "Let  her  live»"  Lovers 

1  ISocial  Psychology,  p.  101. 


230  PUBLIC  ^.xxvAi^vjr 


of  *'Uncle  Remus"  will  be  glad  to  identify  contra-suggestion  in  the 
method  of  Brer  Rabbit's  escape  after  his  capture  by  Brer  Fox  and 
his  Tar  Baby — "  'Do  please,  Brer  Fox,  don't  fling  me  in  dat  brier- 
patch,'  sezee."  And  consider  how  Tom  Sawyer  got  his  fence  white- 
Washed. 

Royce  ^  speaks  of  social  opposition,  or  the  desire  to  con- 
trast one's  self  with  one's  fellows  in  behavior,  opinion,  or 
power.  This  desire  for  distinction,  in  small  ways  as  well 
as  in  large,  balances  the  tendency  to  imitate  and  conform. 
It  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  too  little  considered  by  writers 
on  suggestion. 

Increasing  suggestibility.  By  suggestibility  is  meant 
our  degree  of  susceptibility  to  suggestion.  Not  only  do 
individuals  differ  greatly  in  this  respect,  since  they  differ 
in  their  tendency  to  scrutinize  and  deliberate,  but  also 
the  same  persons  differ  much  under  different  circum- 
stances which  induce  different  moocls.  When  more  emo- 
tional we  are  more  suggestible,  for  then  we  scan  less  what- 
ever is  congruous  with  our  feeling.  Individuals  and  com- 
munities aroused  by  party  feeling,  war  lust,  calamities, 
DY  the  fever  of  speculation,  are  little  guided  by  -^udg- 


toent,  but  seize  upon  any  suggestion  congruous  heir 
mood  and  carry  it  into  immediate  execution. 

Effect  of  numbers.    Every  speaker  knows  is 

easier  to  move  g  large  number  than  a  small;  ws 

that  a  few  persons  are  more  critical  than  a  crowc  it- 

ever  causes  us  to  feel  strongly  our  individua '  it* 

importance  and  responsibility  as  persons,  wbrb  \:  f  ^t 
suggestion.    '^Intensity  of  personality  is  in  invr~ 

portion  to  the  number  of  aggregated  men."^  i 


proposal  is  put  to  one  alone  he  feels  he  must  exei 
judgment;  but  when  many  are  present,  he  fei 
keenly  his  responsibility.    It  is  said  that  one  reas^ 

1  Outlines  of  Pf^ycholoqy,  p.  277. 

2  Sidis,  Psychology  of  Suggestion,  p.  290, 


PERSI 


sT— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT 


porations  eds  which  individual  directors  woux.. 

never  do.  i  the  decreased  sense  of  responsibility. 

The  same  i  may  be  given  to  explain  the  fact  that 

large  lej^xoxauve  bodies  are  more  radical  than  small 
bodies,  and  also  the  fact  that  men  in  numbers  will  sup- 
port measures  that  individually  they  would  not  have  the 
moral  courage  to  support. 

The  psychological  crowd.  This  term  means  more  than 
a  large  number  of  people  together.    That  is  termed 

heterogeneous  crowd.  A  thousand  people  who  have 
come  together  casually  in  a  city  park  or  square,  are  more 
suggestible  than  a  few ;  but  if  they  have  come  together  for 
a  common  purpose,  as  to  hear  a  socialist  orator,  they  are 
much  more  suggestible.  And  if  they  are  feeling  a  com- 
mon emotion,  as  hatred  \of  capital  or  a  sense  of  wrong, 
they  are  highly  suggestible.  A  group  *^fused"  together 
by  some  strong  bond  is  called  a  psychological  or  homo- 
geneous crowd.  In  the  following  pages  the  single  word 
crowd  will  bear  this  meaning. 

We  see  such  crowds  in  a  bleacher  full  of  students  cheering  for 
their  team  in  opposition  to  another  crowd  across  the  field ;  in  a 
theater  where  all  share  enjoyment  of  the  play,  or  in  an  audience 
swayed  by  a  common  emotion. 

Characteristics  of  men  in  crowds.  Men  think  less 
keenly  in  a  psy^ch^pgical  c^rocaai,  their  minds  being  more 
or  less  overcome  by  mass  suggestion.  They  are,  there- 
fore, il^critic^^  discriminating,  more  emotional  and 
responsive.  They  will  respond  to  sentiments  more  noble 
and  more  base  than  those  which  ordinarily  control  them. 
They"afe~  credulous  and  accept  exaggeration  as  wisdom. 
"With  the  decrease  in  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility, 
there  is  a  relaxing  of  habitual  restraints,  reserve  and 
caution.  A  crowd  of  men,  usually  polite,  will  hoot  at 
strangers,  women,  or  authorities.    Men  usually  reserved 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ill  slap  each  other  on  the  back,  shake  hands  with  strang- 
ers, parade  in  lock-step,  laugh,  shout,  sing  w\th  abandon. 
Jokes  are  funnier,  sorrows  more  grievowi,  sentiments 
more  uplifting.  They  have  more  courage,  but  also  more 
fear.  A  company  of  soldiers  will  stand  fire  longer  than 
one  man,  but  once  routed  may  fall  into  a  panic  such  as 
one  man  alone  would  never  feel.  Men  in  crowds  are  in 
every  way  more  primitive.  They  place  high  value  on 
symbols,  regalia  and  watchwords.  They  are  extremely 
imaginative.  ^  ^  To  know  the  art  of  impressing  the  imagi- 
nation of  crowds,"  says  LeBon,^  ^^is  to  know  the  art  of 
governing  them." 

Besides  the  loosening  of  restraint  and  the  increase  of 
emotional  responsiveness  in  a  crowd,  there  is  the  multi- 
plication of  suggestion.  WherJ  an  idea  presented  by  a 
speaker  seems  to  be  indorsed  by  all  those  about  me,  it  i« 
suggested  to  me  by  all,  and  is  forced  upon  my  attention, 
driving  out  my  opposing  thoughts.  Were  you  never  in 
a  meeting  where  the  appeals  of  a  fervid  speaker  were 
reflected  by  the  intent  faces  of  those  about  you?  Did 
you  not  feel  the  power  of  the  united  pull?  There  is  a 
feeling  like  that  of  slipping.  If  one  is  not  to  yield  he 
^WCist  resist ;  and  the  way  to  resist  is  to  think  hard  of  all 
the  objections  to  the  belief  or  the  course  urged.  At  times 
it  is  hard  to  recall  these  objections.  Suppose  you,  a  con- 
vinced pacifist,  are  in  a  crowd  roused  to  enthusiasm  by  a 
plea  for  recruits  for  a  war  to  you  unjustifiable.  You 
object  to  the  plea,  which  is  based  upon  nationalism  and 
race  hatred.  Your  objections  are  in  no  way  answered 
by  the  speaker ;  but  unless  you  make  an  effort  you  may 
lose  your  hold  on  these  objections  and  be  swept  from 
your  moorings.  You  fail  to  keep  your  attention  on  your 
real  beliefs ;  and  it  is  conceivable  that,  in  an  extreme  in- 

1  The  Crowd,  p.  61. 


PLRSUASION 


—INFLUENCING  COi>DLCT 


23 


stance,  you  might  come  to  yourself  as  a  recruit.  It  would 
be  the  task  of  an  opposition  speaker,  manifestly*  very 
firmly  and  repeatedly  to  bring  the  objections  pack  to 
attention. 

Sometlinet /'"i^KSeem  divided  against  ourselves,  our  feelings  won, 
but  our  minds  resisting.  A  story  is  told  i  of  Wendell  Phillips's  ora- 
tion before  the  Harvard  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society,  in  which  he  made 
a  conservative  and  distinguished  audience  applaud,  more  than  thirty 
years  ago,  women's  suffrage,  Irish  home  rule,  and  Russian  Nihilism. 
One  man  was  heard  "applauding  and  stamping  his  feet  with  the  ut- 
most enthusiasm,  exclaiming  at  the  same  time,  'The  d — < —  old  liar, 

the  d  old  liar !'  "    That  was  his  way  of  keeping  his  attention  on 

his  real  beliefs. 

Desirability  of  forming  a  crowd.  I  pass  over  for  the 
present  the  moral  question  involved  and  consider  only 
expediency.  Plainly  enough  a  crowd  with  its  high  degree 
of  suggestibility  is  more  easily  swayed  than  a  calmly 
deliberating  body.  But  where  deliberation  is  desired  the 
crowd  state  is  clearly  undesirable.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, too,  that  while  some  who  are  carried  away  by 
crowd  feeling  will  remain  won,  many  will  recover  their 
judgment  and  revolt.  The  surer  way  is  to  win  by  sound 
argument.  On  the  other  hand,  even  when  the  first 
business  is  conviction,  the  time  comes  when  the  delibcxa- 
tive  mood  must  give  way  and  the  audience  be  brought 
into  community  of  feeling;  assuming  that  united  action 
is  desired.  There  are  times,  too,  when  there  is  no  time 
for  argument;  when  it  is  suggestion  or  nothing.  And 
there  are  8ome  people  with  whom  argument  at  any  time 
is  impossible.  At  any  rate,  we  wish  to  understand  crowds 
and  their  formation,  if  only  to  know  how  to  combat  the 
efforts  of  an  opponent  to  change  an  audience  which  we 
wish  to  retain  as  a  deliberative  body,  into  a  crowd,  and 
how  to  recover  control  when  he  has  succeeded. 

1  Atlantio  Monthly,  Deceriber,  1912,  p.  773. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Methods  of  forming  a  psychological  crowd.  TLere  are 
many  .audiences  which  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
turn  in|^o  a  crowd,  as  when  there  are  two  opposing  fac- 
tions in  a  political  convention, — unless,  indeed,  these 
can  be  brought  to  compromise.  Bodies  whose  business 
is  deliberation,  and  audiences  largely  m<;aS*Lip  of  men 
trained  in  argument,  are  not  likely  to  yield  except  under 
the  most  emotional  circumstance. 

We  know  that  political  conventions  can  be  "stampeded."  Andrew 
D.  White  has  of  late  refused  to  attend  national  political  conventions 
as  a  delegate,  on  the  ground  that  they  have  lost  their  deliberative 
character,  having  come  under  the  sway  of  the  great  audiences  per- 
mitted in  the  galleries ;  that  is,  of  mass  suggestion.  There  are  also 
in  such  conventions  many  delegates  not  trained  to  deliberate;  there 
is  usually  much  excitement,  and  v/ell  understood  methods  are  used  to 
bring  about  "stampedes.''  | 

We  have  already  touched  upon  some  of  the  means  of 
changing  an  ordinary  gathering  into  a  psychological 
crowd,  in  our  discussion  of  suggestion.  The  first  favor- 
able condition  is  to  have  a  large  number  of  people  to- 
gether. More  important  than  actual  numbers  is  Jiaving 
the  hall  full,  even  crowded.  Avoid  having  two  hundred 
people  in  a  hall  large  enough  for  five  hundred.  If  this  is 
not  possible,  bring  those  present  together  in  a  compact 
body.    Henry  Ward  Beecher  said :  ^ 

People  often  say,  ^Do  you  not  think  it  is  much  more 
inspiring  to  speak  to  a  large  audience  than  a  small  one  ? ' 
No,  I  say ;  I  can  speak  just  as  well  to  twelve  persons  as  to 
a  thousand,  provided  those  twelve  are  crowded  around 
me  and  close  together,  so  that  they  touch  each  other. 
But  even  a  thousand  people,  v/ith  four  feet  of  space  be- 

1  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching,  First  Series,  p.  73.  That  the  be- 
lief that  crowds  are  somethin/^  other  thiin  mere  aggregations  of  in- 
dividuals and  have  individualities  of  their  own,  is  not  merely  a 
theory  of  the  "new"  psychology,  will  be  found  by  reading  some  not 
recent  books  by  orators,  such  as  Phillips  Brooks's  Lectures  on 
Preaching,  p.  188-188. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  235 


tween  every  two  of  them,  would  be  just  the  same  as  an 
empty  room.  .  .  .  Crowd  your  audience  together  and 
you  will  set  them  off  with  not  half  the  effort. ' ' 

A  young  lady  who  had  been  successful  in  arguing  *' votes  for 
women"  in  the  streets  of  New  York  and  in  other  places  that  v^oulf' 
try  the  courage  of  most,  told  me  that  the  worst  time  she  ever  had  was 
before  a  very  polite  body  of  people  seated  around  the  sides  ;>f  a 
room,  leaving  the  center  open. 

The  reason  given  i  for  the  greater  ease  of  dealing  with  a  compact 
body  is  that  there  is  a  limitation  of  the  voluntary  movejiaents  upon 
\yhich  our  sense  of  individuality  depends.  It  is  also  true  that  we 
are  more  sensible  of  the  suggestions  of  our  neighbors  when  we  touch 
elbows.  A  man  entering  a  hall  to  criticize  procoedings  and  deter- 
mined not  to  yield  to  what  he  hears,  v:ill  instinctively  keep  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  audience. 

Other  means  are  taken  tr*  decrease  the  sense  of  per- 
sonality. Uniform  costuip.es  are  provided.  Members  of 
the  audience  are  led  to  do  things  together,  read  a  ritual, 
sing  or  cheer  together,  stand  up  and  sit  down,  laugh, 
applaud,  and  vote  tor/ether.  Perhaps  music  is  the  great- 
est unifying  force  but  the  essential  is  to  induce  all  to 
'  yield  to  a  commo^d  leadership.  A  story  is  told  of  a  popu- 
lar evangelist  -^.vho  became  so  exasperated  at  a  man  who 
would  not  ohfjy  the  summons,  ''Now  let  us  all  join  in  sing- 
ing hymn  Ko.  312,''  that  he  hurled  his  hymn  book  at  the 
obdurate  one. 

The  F.peaker  touches  upon  sentiments  and  opinions  held 
in  common.  Perhaps  he  has  kept  back  some  secret, 
i*eg2f.rding  the  progress  of  the  canvass,  for  example,  or  the 
gi^-t  of  a  new  stadium,  with  which  to  set  the  crowd  cheer- 
^'.ng.  He  lets  them  laugh  at  jokes  that  appeal  to  all,  and 
maybe  turns  abruptly  to  pathos ;  and  when  the  members 
of  an  audience  have  applauded,  laughed,  and  maybe 
sighed  a  bit  in  common,  much  of  the  aloofness,  reserve, 
and  hostility  of  men  as  individuals  is  gone,  and  with  it 

1  Sidis,  Psychology  of  Suggestion,  p.  299. 


236 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


their  resisting  power.    Those  around  you  seem  lik 
fellows,  though  at  first  they  may  not  have  seemec 
sort.    Doing  things  together  increases  friendline^ 
is  impossible  to  consider  a  man  who  looks  as  foolish  in  his 
.regalia  as  you  do  in  yours,  as  an  entire  stranger.  And 
the  speaker,  w^ho  agrees  with  your  pet  opinions  and  seems 
to  have  had  the  same  human  experiences,  seems  a  good 
fellow  too.    This  spirit  of  friendliness  is  as  important  as 
the  lessening  of  individuality. 

Anything  which  creates  a  strained  expectancy  increases 
crowd  feeling,  as  thj;t  great  news  is  momentarily  ex- 
pected, or  that  the  solution  of  an  important  problem  will 
soon  be  announced.  A  pi'olonged  silence,  provided  it  be 
charged  with  strong  anticipation,  will  increase  the  effect 
of  a  following  announcement.  There  should  be  no  ap- 
pearance of  aimlessness  in  the  proceedings,  but  an  im- 
pressive regularity,  at  least  until  the  time  arrives  for 
some  startling  effect.  Even  an  intense  sort  of  monotony 
is  desirable.  To  change  the  regular  v'^rder,  or  otherwise 
to  break  the  monotony,  is  a  method  Ox  overcoming  the 
crowd  tendency;  or  it  may  be  a  step  to\7ard  forming  a 
crowd  with  different  aims. 

When  an  attempt  is  made  to  stampede  a  political  convention  for  a 
certain  candidate,  the  regular  order  is  broken  in  upon  by,  perhaps,  a 
woman  in  white  leaning  from  the  balcony,  waving  a  flag  sliiC  shouting 
for  her  candidate.  Then  standards  are  seized,  a  proce^^  sion  is 
formed,  headed  perhaps  by  the  same  woman  and  a  band  whici.*  plays 
over  and  over  again  the  same  strains,  some  piece  popular  in  the;  con- 
vention, and  with  the  paraders  singing  and  shouting.  In  the  m.'dst 
of  the  seeming  confusion,  there  is  regularity  to  the  point  of  monot- 
ony ;  and  the  uproar  is  continued  till  success  is  assured,  or  exhaustion 
brings  an  end.  Absurd  as  these  proceedings  are  in  the  midst  of  con- 
ventions which  we  are  solemnly  told  are  essential  to  republican 
government,  they  sometimes  succeed  when  "sprung"  at  the  right 
moment ;  usually  when  a  convention  is  facing  a  deadlock  and  there 
is  great  tension  of  feeling,  with  hopelessness  on  the  part  of  many  in 
regard  to  nominating  their  favorite  candidates. 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  237 


Since  witnessing  what  was  widely  rej^ortecl  as  a  stampede  at  the 
Progressive  State  Convention  in  Syracuse  in  1912,  where  "Suspender 
Jack"  is  supposed  to  have  swept  the  delegates  off  their  feet,  I  am 
convinced  that  many  so-called  stampedes  are  not  such  in  fact.  The 
uproar  in  that  case  was  the  result  of  a  belief  that  Mr.  Oscar 
Strauss  was  the  only  nominee  for  governor  of  New  York  who  could 
relieve  the  party  of  an  embarrassing  situation  and  give  hope  of  suc- 
cess, and  was  a  deliberate  attempt  to  break  down  the  resistance  of 
Mr.  Strauss  to  being  nominated.  He,  if  any  one,  was  stampeded. 
It  was  to  be  noticed,  however,  that  after  the  convention  had  gone 
through  the  form  of  a  stampede,  it  was  never  again  a  delibera- 
tive body,  and  was  impatient  of  argument  and  near  the  point  of 
breaking  loose  at  all  times  until  the  adjournment  late  the  same 
evening. 

A  word  of  warning.  Do  not  suppose,  as  I  speak  of 
these  extreme  manifestations  for  the  sake  of  illustrating 
crowd  spirit,  and  shall  go  on  to  speak  of  still  more  ex- 
treme manifestations,  that  a  psychological  crowd  is 
always  in  an  uproar  or  doing  extreme  things.  It  may  be 
intensely  quiet,  showing  no  signs  except  to  the  observant 
eye.  Keligious  audiences,  as  often  as  any,  become 
crowds;  but  they  rarely  become  noisy,  at  least  they 
rarely  exceed  the  customs  of  the  particular  sect.  More- 
over, audiences  are  but  rarely  completely  fused  into 
crowds. 

Mobs.  Crowds  pass  into  mobs.  Even  the  heterogene- 
ous crowd  is  a  potential  mob.  A  startling  event,  as  the 
cry  of  fire,  may  cause  a  mob.  Fixation  of  attention  ac- 
companied by  the  awakening  of  any  intense  feeling,  such 
as  anger,  fear,  triumph  or  contempt,  may  change  a  com- 
pany of  people  into  a  mob.  The  sight  of  a  cruel  act  on 
the  street  may  cause  the  formation  of  a  mob  more  cruel 
than  the  object  of  its  wrath.  A  group  of  school  boys 
may  quickly  turn  to  a  mob  at  the  opportunity  to  ridicule 
one  of  its  members.  An  audience  which  is  not  interested 
may  become  a  mob  under  the  inspiration  of  a  witticism 


PI  SPEAKING 


Ji  the  gallery,  ai^d  the  speaker  will  be  skilful  w 
regains  control. 

A  mob  is  in  an  extremely  ■  ggestible  state,  approachi 
that  of  hypnosis.  ''ISoV'iaT  ,aggestibility/'  says  Sid; 
''is  individual  h vpnoti^|||-k» i ^  y^*^^^^^^  large."  The  indi- 
vidual is  lost  in  the  crowd  '  hich  may  be  said  to  have 
an  individuality  of  its  own.  The  individuars  sense  of 
propriety  and  of  responsibility,  his  morality  and  his 
judgment  are  gone.  The  mob's  will  is  his  will.  He  will 
entertain  the  wildest  ideas  suggested  to  him,  he  will  do 
the  most  absurd,  the  most  base,  the  most  cruel,  the  most 
noble  of  acts, — acts  which  on  the  morrow  he  views  with 
disgust,  horror,  or  wonder. 

No  honest  man  will  ever  wish  to  form  a  mob;  but  he 
may  wish  to  know  how  to  check  an  audience  which 
threatens  to  fall  into  the  mob  state,  because  it  has 
been  wrought  upon  by  another,  or  because  it  has  met  in 
time  of  panic.  Only  a  few  hints  can  be  attempted 
here. 

A  crowd  or  a  mob  demands  a  leader.  Even  a  herd 
of  horses  or  steers  will,  when  stampeded,  select  a  leader. 
In  this  demand  lies  an  opportunity  for  an  honest  man 
to  lead  for  good,  and  of  a  demagogue  to  lead  for  evil. 
The  first  attempt  of  the  one  whose  audience  shows  signs  of 
running  ' '  away  with  him, "  is  to  make  himself  its  leader. 
To  do  this  it  may  be  necessary  to  seem  to  fall  in  with  its 
spirit  and  purpose,  whatever  they  may  be.  Protest  is 
useless.  When  their  confidence  is  gained,  it  may  be  pos- 
sible to  turn  them  in  another  direction,  for  a  mob  is  very 
fickle.  At  times  a  trick  is  justifiable.  A  story  is  told 
of  an  audience  determined  to  hoot  down  a  speaker.  A 
tall  figure  rose  among  them  and  caught  their  atten- 
tion for  an  instant.    ''Well,  fellow  citizens,''  the  man 

1  Psychology  of  Suggestion,  p.  327. 


PERSUASION— INFLTJENCING  CONDUCT  239 


drawled,  ''I  wouldn't  keep  still  if  I  didn't  want  to." 
The  crowd  applauded  the  sentiment  and  then  list^ined  for 
more.  ' '  But  if  I  were  you,  I  should  want  to ! "  was  the 
unexpected  conclusion,.  They  laughed  and  then  kept 
still.  Presumably  tl.is  was  a  good-natured  mob.  If  we 
take  th^xti^me  c':se  of  a  mob  bent  on  a  lynching,  there 
ha  J/^^^^^^es  where  leaders  have  led  in  the  wrong 
d-^^^^^BP^seemingly  much  disappointed  themselves, 
l^^^HP^  the  mob  with  their  marchings  and  counter- 
ipRnngs. 

The  first  and  most  difficult  part  of  gaining  leadership 
of  a  mob  is  to  get  its  attention.  Some  striking  gesture 
or  pose  may  be  necessary.  A  striking  expression  may  be 
interjected  into  some  pause  in  the  noise.  It  is  of  course 
useless  to  attempt  to  argue  with  a  mob,  for  it  is  incapable 
of  reasoning.  There  is  no  use  of  telling  a  mob  that  what 
it  wishes  to  do  is  wrong,  for  jeers  or  worse  will  be  the 
answer  to  opposition.  The  mob  has  perfect  confidence 
in  the  rectitude  of  its  own  intentions :  it  is  going  to  free 
the  town  of  an  incubus,  to  drive  out  a  monster,  to  do 
justice  by  a  soulless  corporation  that  is  grinding  the  faces 
of  the  poor ;  it  is  fighting  for  its  homes,  its  children  and 
the  honor  of  its  women.  Since  the  mob  is  highly  primi- 
tive, it  thinks  in  images  only;  hence  a  would-be  leader 
should  address  it  in  vivid  imagery.  It  accepts  as  literal 
truth  the  most  extravagant  exaggeration,  and  likes  large 
phrases  and  big,  vague  sentiments,  put  in  the  most  abso- 
lute, unmodified  form.  The  leader  should  talk  much  of 
liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  of  honor,  patriotism,  and  the 
rights  of  man.  He  should  explain  nothing,  but  affirm 
and  repeat.  The  mob  is  much  influenced  by  prestige,  and 
a  man  who  enjoys  high  position  in  its  eyes  has  a  superior 
chance  to  control  it;  but  any  one  can  make  use  of  the 
names  of  its  heroes. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


A  student  tells  me  of  how  800  students  in  his  high  school,  seized 
by  a  sudden  fancy,  refused  to  go  to  their  work  after  luncheon  and 
proceeded  to  march  around  and  around  the  school  building  with 
cheers  and  songs.  They  refused  to  listen  to  the  principal,  who 
begged  them  to  return  home  at  least ;  but  when  Murphy,  athlete  and 
leader,  jumped  upon  a  box  they  listened ;  and  when  he  shouted, 
*'The  Orpheum  opens  in  five  minutes ;  let 's  go,"  t^^^^^SL. 

There  is  a  story  told,  with  many  non-essenti^^^^H^^B|^how 
General  Garfield  checked  the  formation  of  a  ^^^^^^^^H^rk 
during  the  Civil  War.  It  was  the  night  of  Lincoln! 
A  great  crowd  had  gathered  in  City  Hall  Park,  whi^ 
every  moment  to  become  a  mob,  likely  to  vent  its  wrath  upT5 
tain  "copperhead"  newspapers.  General  Garfield  was  asked  to  try 
to  quiet  the  crowd.  Stepping  out  on  a  balcony,  he  stood  with  up- 
raised hands  in  full  sight  of  the  crowd,  which  surged  over  to  hear 
his  news.    This  was  the  news : 

"  'Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him  : 
Righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habitations  of  his  throne.'  i 
"Fellow  citizens !    God  reigns  and  the  government  at  Washington 
still  lives!" 

The  crowd  dispersed  and  the  danger  was  over.  The  familiar,  sa- 
cred words,  with  their  great  image,  caught  the  crowd,  and  held 
them  long  enough  to  enable  them  to  receive  the  assurance  that  a 
greater  than  Lincoln  was  still  in  power,  and  that  the  government 
did  not  fall  even  with  the  beloved  President. 

According  to  Le  Bon  ^  the  mob  is  conservative.  While 
it  seems  to  be  tearing  down,  it  is  fighting  against  change, 
for  hereditary  ideas  and  institutions.    A  student  mob 
^would  be  found  in  revolt  against  the  destruction  of  a 
//^tradition.    Since  a  mob  cannot  think,  it  cannot  receive  a- 
^  new  idea.    Appeal  to  a  mob,  then,  in  the  name  of  the  old, 
the  estajblishe^^    Appeal  to  any  loyalty  to  institutions 
members  of  the  mob  may  possess, — to  party,  college, 
city,  country,  or  family. 

The  mob  is  vain  and  will  accept  unlimited  flattery 
as  to  its  high  character  and  purposes.  Remember,  too, 
that  a  mob  may  be  turned  to  good  deeds  as  well  as  to 
foul,  if  the  better  idea  can  be  struck  into  its  imagination. 


1  Paahne,  97 ;  2. 


2  The  Crowd,  p.  39, 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  241 


The  mob  is  cowardly  and  may  be  put  to  flight  by  a  cry 
of  '^Fire/'  or  Police";  but  may  be  galvanized  into  hero- 
ism by  the  right  leader.  It  admires  courage.  It  must  be 
faced  boldly ;  any  sign  of  weakness,  any  attemjjt  to  beg 
it  to  be  good,  will  be  derided.  Napoleon,  v^hen  but  a 
very  young  brigadier,  cowed  v/ith  a  'Sv^hiff  of  grape 
shot"  the  fierce  mob  that  had  ruled. Paris. 

Since  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  a  mob  is  the 
loss  of  individuality,  try  to  restore  this  feeling  to  the  nat- 
ural leaders.  Appeal,  if  it  be  possible,  to  their  *sense  of 
duty  and  personal  dignity.  Call  upon  them  by  name 
to  step  forward  and  commit  themselves  in  plain  words. 
If  possible,  get  these  men  formed  into  a  committee  to 
determine  action. 

But  usually  the  mob  demands  immediate  action.  The 
leader  may  be  able  to  suggest  another  and  more  attractive 
course,  but  one  which  will  result  in  delay.  This  is  the 
easier  because  a  mob  is  remarkable  for  credulity,  and  does 
not  distinguish  between  the  possible  and  the  impossible. 
If  the  mob  is  bent  on  revenge,  suggest  a  more  terrible 
revenge.  By  any  means  get  delay ;  for  in  most  cases  the 
mob  feeling  does  not  last  long.  Sensations  of  hunger, 
cold,  and  weariness  become  so  insistent  as  to  distract  at- 
tention."^ To  move  an  adjournment  for  dinner,  or  to 
await  the  coming  of  a  popular  speaker,  or  for  some  other 
attractive  purpose,  is  a  standard  method  of  preventing 
a  convention  from  escaping  the  control  of  its  leaders. 

Suggestion,  crowds,  and  ethics.  When  we  consider 
the  means  of  controlling  men  without  convincing  them 
intellectually,  we  are  impressed  with  the  serious  moral 
responsibility  involved ;  but  we  may  well  remember  that 
to  influence  others  is  a  serious  responsibility,  whatever 
the  methods  employed.    Even  when  men  are  controlled 

1  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  p.  54. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


by  logical  argument  there  is  the  same  possibility  that  the 
weaker  will  be  ruled  by  the  stronger  to  their  hurt;  for 
by  assuming  false  premises  and  facts,  one  may  be  as 
logical  as  Aristotle  and  as  false  as  Beelzebub.  We  must 
remember,  too,  as  already  stated,  that  there  are  times 
when  logical  argument  can  have  little  to  do  with  per- 
suasion; as  when  conviction  already  exists  but  conduct 
is  not  in  accord  for  lack  of  sufficient  impulse,  or  when  men 
are  in  conditions  which  incapacitate  them  for  reasoning. 

There  are  treatises  that  picture  men  as  always  acting 
in  the  light  of  pure  reason  and  from  the  highest  motives. 
If  any  student  were  so  gullible  as  to  accept  such  teach- 
ings, he  would  be  but  slightly  equipped  for  moral  conflict. 
He  must  understand  human  nature.  Persuasion  is  a 
practical  matter;  and  we  must  take  men  as  they  are; 
and  they  are,  in  meetings  and  about  their  affairs,  influ- 
enced by  suggestion  as  well  as  by  reason.  I  do  not  mean 
to  imply  that  ideals  should  not  guide  us  in  this  practical 
matter;  but  I  do  mean  that  facts  must  be  faced.  What 
use  a  speaker  may  make  of  his  power  will  depend  upon 
w^hat  kind  of  a  man  he  is.  The  man  who  is  unscrupulous 
off  the  platform  will  be  unscrupulous  on  the  platform. 
The  honest  speaker  needs  large  knowledge  of  the  springs 
of  human  action,  if  only  that  he  may  checkmate  the  dis- 
honest speakers  who  ma.y  oppose  him.  *  ^  Be  ye  therefore 
wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves." 

One  cannot  touch  this  subject  of  crowd  control  without 
feeling  the  inadequacy  of  a  brief  treatment,  or  of  any 
treatment.  One  recognizes,  too,  the  danger  that  a  stu- 
dent may  become  fascinated  by  the  subject  of  suggestion 
and  make  too  much  of  it ;  and  the  further  danger  that  a 
little  knowledge  of  it  may  produce  an  unwholesome  dis- 
respect for  audiences.  But  this  last  danger  is  likely  to  be 
offset  by  practical  experience ;  for  the  young  speaker  who 


PERSUASION— INFLUENCING  CONDUCT  213 


deals  with  the  average  American  audience,  believing  that 
he  can  manipulate  them  as  he  will  and  that  they  will  not 
see  through  his  tricks  and  fallacies,  is  in  line  for  some 
highly  beneficial  shocks. 

Those  who  wish  to  follow  up  the  subject  of  suggestion  and  crowds 
may  do  so  in  the  works  referred  to  in  the  preceding  pages.  It  is  to 
be  said  of  the  works  of  Le  Bon  and  Sidis  that  they  are  far  too  cyn- 
ical in  their  view  of  human  nature,  and  that  their  conclusions  seem 
to  be  based  too  much  upon  such  times  of  excitement  as  that  of  the 
French  Revolution.  All  writers  on  suggestion,  indeed,  are  likely  to 
overemphasize  its  importance  and  to  overlook  other  important  truths. 
Ross's  works  are  in  popular  vein,  but  should  prove  helpful.  In  his 
preface  to  Social  Psychology  he  emphasizes  the  truth  that  all  theories 
upon  the  subject  are  in  an  unsettled  state.  JNIcDougall's  Social 
Psychology  will  be  found  as  reliable  as  any,  but  he  devotes  little 
space  to  suggestion  and  crowds.  Many  of  the  most  authoritative 
psychologists  say  little  or  nothing  of  these  topics ;  first,  perhaps, 
because  they  are  not  dwelling  on  the  social  aspects  of  their  science, 
and,  secondly,  because  they  feel  the  topics  are  not  ripe  for  strict 
scientific  statement.  Scott's  Influencing  Men  in  Business  has  prob- 
ably the  best  popular  comparison  of  suggestion  and  argument.  This 
work  and  his  books  on  advertising  will  be  found  useful  and  better 
than  his  book  on  public  speaking,  though  this  is  well  worth  reading. 

Practical  suggestions.  The  student  of  thjs,  chapter 
should  be  making  persuasive  speecEe's,^  taking  up  subjects 
whicli  permit _qf_genuine^  aftempts  to.  influence. conduct, 
and  which  call^less  for  convincing  the  .audience  of  the- 
Sesirability  of  action  thaij  £or  jnoving  to  action.  ,  He  will 
profit,  also,  by  studying  persuasive  speeches ;  and  for  our 
present  purpose,  he  should  select  speeches  which  have 
overcome  passive  rather  than  active  opposition.  Both 
in  preparing  and  in  studying  persuasive  speeches,  the 
student  should  give  special  attention  to  the  situation  to 
be  met,  precisely  what  is  to  be  overcome;  and  then  to 
the  means.  Experience  shows  that  this  suggestion  needs 
emphasis.  A  by  no  means  unique  instance  w^as  that  of  a 
student  preparing  a  speech  in  favor  of  national  prohibi- 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tion,  without  considering  whether  he  would  address  those 
who  believed  in  prohibition,  those  who  did  not  believe  in 
it,  or  those  who  believed  prohibition  a  good  thing  but 
impracticable. 


CHAPTER  IX 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  kept  in  mind  es- 
pecially persuasion  in  those  cases  in  which  our  hearers 
offer  only  passive  opposition.  In  this  chapter  we  shall 
give  especiaF  attention  to  cases  in  which  there  is  more 
active  opposition,  due  to  intelligent  doubt,  contrary  con- 
viction, opposing  interests,  or  prejudice.  It  does  not 
seem  wise  to  attempt  any  sharp  distinction  between  the 
problems  considered  in  the  preceding  chapter  and  in 
this;  and  it  should  be  understood  that  the  suggestions 
of  either  chapter  are,  in  great  ,  part,  applicable  to  the 
problems  of  the  other. 

Our  primary  study  in  this  chapter  is  JiQW  to  win  be- 
lief, either  as  an  end  in  itself,  or  as -a  preliminary  to 
action;  and  on  investigation  we  find  we  are  facing  the 
familiar  problem  of  securing  exclusive  attention.  ''The 
most  compendious  possible  formula,  perhaps, ' '  says 
James,^  ''would  be  that  our  belief  and  attention  are  the 
same  fact.  For  the  moment,  what  we  attend  to  is  re- 
ality. ' '  Again,  James  says  ^  belief  ' '  resembles  more  thar 
anything  what  in  the  psychology  of  volition  we  know  a^ 
consent  .  .  .  What  characterizes  both  consent  and  be- 
lief is  the  cessation  of  theoretic  agitation,  through  the 


advent  of  an  idea  which  is  inwardly  stable,  and  fills  the 
mind  solidly  to  the  exclusion  of  contradictory  ideas. 'li 
To  secure  the  desired  state  of  attention  we  may  have  to 


1  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  322. 

^45 


2  Idem,  p.  283. 


^  PUBLIC  SP  iG 

argue  away  doubts,  change  (  Oij\  ic  tions,  and  win  ixum 
prejudice  the  grace  of  a  fair  h<\ari;ig. 

Does  not  this  statement  of  square  with  experi- 

ence? Does  not  making  up  y  _ind  after  a  struggle 
seem  like  shutting  your  mental  eyes  to  all  conclusions 
but  one,  or  to  the  reasons  for  them,  whether  you  do  this 
arbitrarily  or  because  your  judgment  advises  that  this  i? 
the  better  course?  Perhaps  you  have  had  a  struggle 
over  which  is  the  best  college,  or  the  best  fraternity: 
or  whether  the  Germans  or  the  Allies  are  in  the  right. 
Once  the  question  is  settled,  you  may  later  wonder  why 
you  were  ever  in  doubt.  One  cause  of  this  is,  that  after 
the  decision  is  made  you  refuse  to  give  other  possible  de- 
cisions a  square  look,  and  that  while  you  eagerly  admit 
new  reasons  to  support  your  decision,  you  refuse  to  con- 
sider fairly  reasons  against  it.  If  you  have  '4et  the 
worse  appear  the  better  reason, ' '  and  remain  at  all  open- 
minded,  the  dishonored  better  reason  may  return  to  vex 
you.  With  the  mentally  honest  an  opinion  is  never  in 
stable  equilibrium  unless  it  is  founded  on  sound  reason- 
ing ;  but  with  such  questions  as  those  instanced  we  rarely 
give  attention  to  the  possibility  of  mistake. 

^It  will  prove  suggestive,  especially  for  advanced  students,  to  con- 
eider  this  doctrine  further.  We  may  notice  that,  in  the  words  of 
Bain,  "We  believe  everything  that  comes  into  the  mind  unopposed" ; 
or  as  Pillsbury  says,i  "Anything  that  enters  the  mind  is  normally 
accepted  as  true  at  once."  I>elief  is  passive ;  doubt  is  active.  The 
child  believes  all  it  is  told ;  doubt  comes  as  the  result  of  experience. 
If  an  opinion  is  suggested  so  that  it  arouses  no  opposition,  it  is 
accepted.  But  if  doubts  do  arise,  or  contrary  opinions  already 
exist,  then  these  must  be  driven  from  mind  in  order  to  win  for 
the  doubted  or  rejected  opinion  exclusive  attention.  "I  can  find 
in  a  moment  of  belief,"  says  Pillsbury,2  "nothing  but  the  stable 
persistence  of  the  idea  or  state  that  is  believed."  To  the  end  of 
giving  ideas  "stable  persistence"  in  the  minds  of  others,  all  the 
/methods  and  means  of  argumentation  should  tend. 

1  Psychology  of  Reasoning,  p.  31.  -  Idem,  p.  57. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


247 


Pillsbury  lays  f^roat  stress  i  upon  the  truth  that  beli^'f  dfpondM 
upon  experience,  and  ilhistrates  with  the  following,',  whirh  hoMi 
bears  upon  tlie  point  under  discussion  and  furnishes  a  ^ood  point 
of  view  for  the  study  of  ar;;umentation.    (Italics  are  mine.) 

"One  may  believe  in  socialism  if  one  considers  the  evident  ^lisjiar- 
ity  between  the  rewards  of  individuals  who  may  be  r<'^Mnl«  (l  as  of 
the  same  ability  or  as  of  the  same  de^'ree  of  desert.  One  is  tirmly 
opposed  to  soc-ialism  when  men  are  regarded  as  essentially  very 

dilVerent  in  ability,  and  ability  and  desert  are  id«'ntified  /ust 

80  long  as  (he  two  sets  of  crpcricnccs  fluctuate  before  Ihr  mind,  one 
will  be  in  doubt  as  to  which  of  the  abstract  princij>les  is  nuire  de- 
sirable. ]l7/r//.  one  pcrsistH,  it  is  by  that  very  fact  believed.  .  .  . 
And  individuals  will  be  predominantly  individualistic  or  socialistic 
as  life  as  a  whole  has  presented  the  advanta^;es  or  the  disndvanta^'es 
the  present  individualistic  society.  .  .  .  \Ve  have  a  belief  in  one 
theory  or  tlie  other  just  so  lonj;  as  one  set  of  experiences  predom- 
inate in  consciousness;  doubt  enters  when  there  is  rivalry  between 
two  sets  of  exi)erience." 

2 ''One  can  change  the  belief  of  any  individual  either  by  f^h'inf: 
him  new  and  different  experiences,  or  by  so  presenting:  a  staternent 
that  it  shall  arouse  a  different  set  of  experiences  to  pass  ui>on  the 
statement.^  lioth  methods  are  applied  in  i)ractical  arj^uuK-ntat ion. 
Ihe  effectiveness  of  a  plea  dei)ends  upon  the  success  with  whicli 
ne\v  ^rroups  of  experiences  can  be  aroused  to  ;:ive  the  attitude 
desired.  When  the  attitude  is  properly  aroused  belief  follows  as  a 
matter  of  course.'* 

Persuasion  and  belief.  We  decided  in  tlie  last.cliaptcr 
to  apply  tlic  term  pei^suasion  to  the  process  of  inducing 
others  to  give  fair,  favorable,  or  exclusive  attention  to 
propositions.  We  have  just  seen  that  belief  is  also  a  mat- 
ter of  attention.  In  seeking  to  giye__l!istable  persistence ' ' 
to  ideas  in  minds  that  have  not  before  held  them,  or  have 
heldjQiip_Q§jn^deas,  we  try  to  changcthe  attitude,  of  those 
ininds  to  the  end  that  there  may  be  willingness  to  listen 
at  allj  that  there  may  be  an  open-minded  reception  of 
our  arguments,  and  a  willingness,  or  even  a  desire,  to  be- 
lieve; and  we  also  employ  logical  arguments  which  fur- 
nish grounds  for  accepting  the  belief  we  urge,  and  which 
serve  to  drive  opposing  arguments  from  the  hearers' 
minds,  so  weakening  and  discrediting  them  that  if  they 
return  they  will  be  received  with  scant  respect.  No 
hard  and  fast  distinction  should  be  understood  here,  only 


iPaychology  of  U^aioning,  p.  38. 


3 /(fern,  p.  53. 


248 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


an  empliasizin^i^  of  the  fact  that  there  may  be  two  phases 
of  one  process.  Tliat  the  distinction  is  not  strict  is  evi- 
dent from  tlie  fact  that  sound  argument  is  in  itself  an 
important  means  of  winninf^:  attention.  It  is  possil)]e,  as 
we  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  to  cover  the  wliolc 
process  of  producing  conviction  with  the  term  persuasion; 
but  it  is  botli  correct  and  convenient  to  limit  its  mean- 
ing, as  applied  to  this  process,  to  the  winning  of  atten- 
tion and  acceptance  for  the  arguments  which  reason  pre- 
sents. 

The  importance  of  logical  argument.  I  shall  not  in  this 
text  attempt  a  systematic  treatment  of  'argument  in  the 
stricter  sense ;  but  shall  leave  that  to  the  many  excellent 
works  on  logic  and  argumentation.  Such  topics  as  the 
rules  of  evidencOt  fallacies,  the  analysis  and  briefing  of 
arguments,  w^ill  receive  only  incidental  attention,  while  I 
shall  give  space  chiefly  to  the  adaptation  of  arguments  to 
audiences,  a  matter  w^hicli  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
persuasion. 

Yet  while  I  prefer  not  to  give  here  a  necessarily  brief 
and  inferior  treatment  of  logical  argument,  but  to  em- 
phasize the  means  of  gaining  a  hearing  for  one's  logic  and 
facts,  I  do  not  wish  even  to  suggest  that  sound  logic  may 
be  ignored,  or  that  tlie  phases  of  the  subject  here  dis- 
cussed are  in  any  way  inconsistent  wath  logic.  Kathcr  I 
^w^ould  impress  upon  all  students  of  public  speech  the  im-_ 
poilancc  of  sound  logical  argument,J)ased  upon  fcicts_aiid_ 
the  most  rigorous  analysisT'TChis  there  should  be  al- 
though the  circumstances  of  a  speech  do  not  admit  of 
detailed  statement  of  its  logical  basis.    In  the  first  place, 

^  a_sj).eaker  owes  a  high  duty  to  himself  and  to  his  audience 
to  determine  and  to  speak  the  truth  as  best  he  can.  He 
can  never  tell  how  far  his  most  casual  word  may  reach. 

y  In  the  second  place,  expediency  coincides  w^ith  duty.  In 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


2^9 


most  assemblies  the  stron^^^cr  minds  control;  in  all  connrni- 
iiities,  in  the  lon<^  run,  they  formulate  opinions  and  de- 
termine action.  And  these  stronjj^er  thinkers  resent  an 
attempt  to  control  them  aj^ainst  their  judj^nnent.  Tliey 
will  not  often  cease  questioning^  and  balancing  arguments, 
and  yield  their  undivided  attention,  until  the  demands  of 
reason  have  been  satisfied.  If  a  triumph  is  gained  in 
defiance  of  reason,  reason  will  reassert  itself.  Wc  sliall 
see  that  emotion  has  much  to  do  with  determining  what 
are  good  reasons;  but  sound  reasoning  cannot  be  safely 
ignored.  » 

I  spoke  of  WcndoH  rinllips's  tritiiiipli  in  making  a  conservative, 
cultured  audience  applaud  Nihilism.  J  lis  trinnipli,  however,  was 
more  amusing  than  lasting.  A  few  hour.s  later  his  honrer.s  were 
indignant  at  what  they  considered  a  trick.  On  the  evening  of  the 
same  day,  "Charles  lOliot  made  a  forcible  and  ehxpient  five-minuto 
speech  at  the  dinner,  vigorously  rejecting  l*hillii)s's  doctrine  and 
exposing  the  essential  fallacy  of  his  discourse." 

There  is  likely  to  be  some  one  at  hand  to  expose  the 
man  who  attempts  to  befog  reason ;  if  not  anotlier  speaker 
on  the  same  occasion,  or  on  a  later  occasion,  it  may  be 
a  newspaper  writer,  or  some  hard-headed  man  on  the 
street  or  in  the  club,  who  will  expose  the  Ijad  argument 
next  day.  Opponents  will  seize  upon  every  weak  link  in 
one*s  logic,  or  whatever  can  be  made  to  seem  weak. 
Doubters  will  persistently  demand  '*  Why?''  and  **\Vhat 
is  the  evidence?"  J^~WiV}^'J]li ^1^  siircljj  cj[cctu'c, 
shqiild  he  at  once  persuasive  and  soiouL  * 

I  urge  upon  every  student  of  public  speaking,  as  an  important 
foundation  for  our  work,  the  thorough  study  of  the  analysis  of 
propositions,  the  briefing  of  arguments,  the  methods  of  detecting  and 
exposing  fallacies,  aiid  the  laws  of  evidence.  Such  studies  will  be 
of  great  assistance  in  all  branches  of  composition  ;  and.  indeed,  in 
most  branches  of  learning.  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  college  de- 
bating, though  this  intellectual  sport,  properly  conducted,  can  be 
made  a  valuable  training  for  the  combats  of  courts  and  conventiGus. 


250 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Emotion  in  argument.  Having  said  so  much  on  the 
importance  of  soundclogic,  I  now  call  your  attention  to  the 
part  of  emotion  in  argument.    I  do  not  mean  in  befogged, 

^  illogical  argument,  (hut  in  clear,  logical  argument.  Let 
us  notice,  first,  thatf  in  dealing  with  those  practical  issues 
that  directly  afrec|  human  conduct,  the  very  basis  of 
\  argument  is  emotion;  or  as  .we  noted  in  the  preceding 

1  /  chapter,  the  major)premise  of  such  an  argument  is  the 
expression  of  an  e.jotion.  If  we  argue  that  the  square 
of  the  hypotenuse  of  a  right  triangle  is  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  squares  of  the  other  two  sides,  we  have  purel^eason- 
ing,  free  from  emotion ;  but  when  we  take  up  the  propo- 
sition that  Congress  should  pass  the  immigration  bill, 
involving  an  illiteracy  test,  over  the  President's  veto,  we 
are  constantly  dealing  with  emotions.  We  must  assume  • 
first  the  emotion  of  patriotism,  or  that  all  desire  the  good 
of  the  country.  As  we  proceed  we  find  ourselves  meet- 
ing with  emotions  involved  in  the  interests  of  labor  and 
of  corporations,  w^ith  self-interest  and  the  love  of  justice, 
with  race  prejudices  and  loyalties,  with  the  sentiment 
that  America  should  remain  the  home  of  the  oppressed, 
with  pity  for  those  who  have  had  no  opportunity  for  edu- 
cation, and  with  a  reluctance  on  the  part  of  many  to 
pass  a  measure  over  President  AVilson's  veto.  If  we  j 
looked  beneath  the  surface  of  newspaper  discussion,  we  , 
might  find  certain  religious  feelings  playing  an  active 
part  in  the  settlement  of  this  issue.  The  fact  that  some 
of  these  feelings  ouglit  not  to  influence  our  judgment  of 
the  question,  and  the  fact  that  none  of  tliem  should  be 
permitted  to  put  us  in  such  a  state  that  we  cannot  rea- 
son justly,  do  not  change  the  facts  tliat  an  argument  on 
the  issue  impinges  upon  emotion  at  every  point,  tliat  some 
of  these  emotions  are  necessary  to  a  proper  solution,  that 
they  are,  in  fact,  excellent  reasons,  and  that  any  one  or 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


251 


several  of  them,  good  and  bad,  may  be  dominating  the 
I  minds  of  your  hearers  as  you  address  them.  The  ques- 
tion selected  is  far  from  an  extreme  instance,  as  you  will 
see  if  you  think  for  a  moment  of  such  questions  as  inter- 
collegiate athletics,  modern  dancing,  woman's  suffrage, 
and  blame  for  the  European  war. 

In  the  second  place,  we  notice  with  regard  to  the 
influence  of  emotion  on  argument,  the  strong  tendency 
\^of  men  to  believe  ivhat  they  wish  to  believe.^  ''Will 
land  belief  are  undoubtedly  common  products  of  the  same 
deeper  lying  forces.  "Whatever  appeals  to  us  strongly 
I  enough  to  tempt  us  to  desire  to  believe,  by  the  very  same 
appeal  compels  belief."  Experience  declares,  ''A  man 
!  convinced  against  his  will  is  of  the  same  opinion  still. ' '  ^ 
t  Almost  as  famous  is  the  saying  attributed  to  a  Scotchman, 
j  '  I  am  quite  open  to  conviction,  Sandy,  but  I  should  like 
I  0  see  the  man  w^ho  can  convince  me. ' '  This  tendency  to 
believe  what  we  wish  to  believe  is  encouraged  by  the  fact 
that,  with  reference  to  questions  at  all  debatable,  there  are 
reasons,  usually  good  reasons,  in  support  of  either  al- 
ternative. One  arrives  at  a  decision  by  weighing  the 
opposing  arguments.  Now,  if  he  wishes  to  arrive  at  a 
certain  conclusion,  the  arguments  for  it  seem  weighty 
and  those  in  opposition  very  light.  He  is  likely  to  refuse 
!  credence  to  witnesses  and  authorities  against  the  de- 
\  sired  conclusion.  He  may  even  refuse  to  listen  to  oppos- 
ing arguments ;  or  he  may  listen  in  an  attempt  to  be  fair, 
but  with  a  subconscious  determination  to  discredit  what 
he  hears,  saying  all  the  while,  That  is  not  true ;  That  is 
I  not  important ;  or,  That  is  insufficient.  In  other  words, 
he  refuses  fair  attention. 

1  Pillsbnry,  Psychology  of  Reasoning,  p.  54. 

2Cf.  Cfesar,  Gallic  War,  Book  III,  Cb.  18:  Fere  lihenter 
homines,  quod  volunt,  credunt. 


252 


'Lie  SPEAKING 


No  doubt  you  ait  a  '-.  .a.  ly  reasonable  person;  sfcJ  if  yon  were 
to  learn  that  your  c  -  -^a^sed  uncle  had  cut  you  off  from  nn  expected 
legacy,  you  might  find  it  easy  to  believe  the  old  man  •  ipos 
mentis  when  he  executed  his  will.  Learning  later  that  I  ,  added 
a  codicil  in  your  favor,  you  might  find  no  difficulty  in  beiieving  that 
at  the  approach  of  death  his  mind  cleared.  We  expect  to-day  to  find 
men  of  German  parentage  pro-German  in  their  opinions  about  the 
war,  and  men  of  English  parentage  pro-English.  We  say,  *'Their 
sympathies  are  naturally  that  w^ay.**  We  may  give  many  logical 
reasons  for  our  positions,  but  how  many  are  there  among  us  who 
take  pride  in  our  trained  minds,  who  determined  our  attitude  toward 
this  war  by  impartial  reasoning? 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  asserting  that  a  man  will  or  can 
believe  whatever  he  wishes  to  believe.  Evidence  may  be  too  strongly 
against  desire.  We  say  at  times  we  are  afraid  to  believe  this  or 
that,  or  that  a  certain  belief  is  too  good  to  be  true.  However,  when 
a  man  does  not  follow  his  desire  to  believe,  the  reason  will  usually 
be  that  another  emotion  intervenes ;  his  thinking  is  guided  by  a 
strong  love  of  truth,  or  he  is  held  back  by  a  fear  of  the  consequences 
of  a  mistake.  So  he  resists  the  tempting  belief  by  holding  atten- 
tion upon  the  reasons  against  it.i 

In  practical  speaking  instances  of  the  effect  of  desire 
upon  judgment  are  common  enough.  We  find  only  too 
many  instances  of  juries  led  by  their  sympathies  to  ignore 
the  plain  purport  of  the  evidence.  It  is  my  belief  that  in 
these  cases  the  jurors  rarely  consciously  violate  their 
oaths,  but  that  their  desires  control  them  in  selecting 
and  rejecting  evidence. 

I  sat  as  a  spectator,  with  a  slight  bias  toward  the  prosecution, 
through  the  trial  of  a  young  woman  for  the  killing  of  her  husband. 
The  case  for  the  defense  was  the  bad  character  of  the  victim 
(worked  into  the  evidence  in  spite  of  the  rules),  and  "emotional 
insanity,"  testified  to  by  several  sisters,  a  weeping  mother  and  a 
pathetic  old  father,  who,  one  all  the  time  hoped,  would  make  out  a 
good  case,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were  palpably  straining  the 
truth.  The  summing  up  of  the  astute  attorney  for  the  defense  pre- 
sented briefly  an  argument  which,  had  it  been  based  upon  established 
facts,  would  have  justified  an  acquittal,  and  a  long  address  to  the 
sympathies  of  the  jury,  closing  with,  *'Give  her  back  to  her  mother.'* 
The  jury,  apparently  an  intelligent  body  of  men,  rendered  a  verdict 

1  Cf.  Camille  Bos,  Psyvhologie  de  la  Croyance,  p.  81. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


253 


of  not  guilty,  in  spite  of  damning  testimony  which  they  must  have 
refused  to  remember.  And  I  felt  that  no  jury,  though  it  were  drawn 
from  the  district  attorney's  office  itself,  would  have  rendered  a  ver- 
dict of  murder  in  the  first  degree,  so  strongly  would  they  have  wished 
to  believe  in  the  *'brain  storm." 

If  there  is  any  place  where  all  save  pure  logical  argument  would 
seem  to  be  out  of  place,  it  is  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States ;  yet  even  there  argument  contains  more  than  law,  facts  and 
logic,  and  lawj^ers  take  into  consideration  the  tendencies,  the  feel- 
ings, even  the  prejudices,  of  the  justices.  When  Webster  argued 
the  Dartmouth  College  Case,  at  a  time  when  the  Court  contained 
such  men  as  Marshall  and  Story,  he  was  swept  at  the  end  into  an 
undoubtedly  sincere  outburst  of  feeling  for  his  college : 

"Sir,  you  may  destroy  this  little  institution ;  it  is  weak  ;  it  is  in 
your  hands!  I  know  it  is  one  of  the  lesser  lights  in  the  literary 
horizon  of  our  country.  You  may  put  it  out.  But,  if  you  do  so, 
you  must  carry  through  your  work !  You  must  extinguish,  one 
after  another,  all  those  greater  lights  of  science,  which  for  more 
than  a  century,  have  thrown  their  radiance  over  our  land! 

*'It  is,  sir,  as  I  have  said,  a  small  college,  and  yet  there  are  those 
who  love  it. 

"Sir,  I  know  not  how  others  may  feel  [glancing  at  the  opposing 
attorneys,]  but  for  myself,  when  I  see  my  Alma  Mater  surrounded, 
like  Caesar  in  the  Senate  house,  by  those  who  are  reiterating  stab 
after  stab,  I  would  not,  for  this  right  hand,  have  her  turn  to  me 
and  say,  Et  tu  quoque^  mi  fili!    And  thou  too,  my  sonT^ 

An  eyewitness  wrote : 

"The  court-room  during  those  two  or  three  minutes  presented  an 
extraordinary  spectacle.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  with  his  tall  gaunt 
figure,  bent  over  to  catch  even  the  slightest  whisper,  the  deep 
furrows  of  his  cheeks  expanded  with  emotion,  and  his  eyes  suffused 
with  tears ;  Mr.  Justice  Washington  at  his  side,  .  .  .  leaning  far 
forward  with  an  eager  troubled  look ;  and  the  remainder  of  the 
court  at  the  two  extremities,  pressing,  as  it  were,  toward  a  single 
point,  while  the  audience  below  were  wrapping  themselves  around 
in  closer  folds  beneath  the  bench  to  catch  each  look  and  every 
feature  of  the  speaker's  face." 

The  court  did  not  pronounce  its  decision  until  after  the  summer 
recess ;  but  it  is  believed  that  the  strong  desire  to  protect  the  college, 
created  in  its  members,  led  the  court  to  render  a  decision  which  was 
bad  law,  and  which  has  been  used  to  serve  the  ends  of  corporate 
injustice  ever  since.  It  is  a  legal  proverb  that  "Hard  cases  make  bad 
laws,"  which  is  only  a  way  of  saying  that  the  sympathies  of  courts 
lead  them  to  unsound  decisions. 

I  have  not  cited  these  instances  to  justify  them;  but 
because  I  v  ish  to  represent  human  nature  as  it  is,  and  be- 
cause I  wish  to  impress  the  truth  that  while  attempts 


254 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


at  befogging  judgment  by  means  of  emotion  are  nc 
fiable,  we  cannot  ignore  our  hearers'  emotional  at. 
and  that  if  it  be  against  us  we  can  make  little 
way  with  the  soundest  logic.    But  frequently  I  am 
by  my  students,  ^^Men  ought  not  to  be  influenced  in 
their  thinking  by  their  emotions  and  prejudices/'  No 
one  is  stricter  with  other  people's  thinking  than  your 
sophomore.    He  himself  is  open-minded  in  regard  to 
those  subjects  in  which  he  has  a  purely  intellectual 
interest;  but  hear  him  argue  on  ^'activities,"  woman's 
suffrage,  or  religion!    At  any  rate,  the  question  is  not 
how  men  should  think,  but  how  they  do  think.  These 
are  the  words  of  a  practical  idealist,  Woodrow  Wilson :  ^ 

''As  I  look  back  upon  the  past  of  the  South,  it  seems  to 
me  to  contain  that  best  of  dynamic  forces,  the  force  of 
emotion.  We  talk  a  great  deal  about  being  governed  by 
mind,  by  intellect,  by  intelligence,  in  this  boastful  day  of 
ours;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  don't  believe  that  one 
man  out  of  a  thousand  is  governed  by  his  mind. 

"Men,  no  matter  what  their  training,  are  governed  by 
their  passions,  and  the  most  we  can  hope  to  accomplish 
is  to  keep  the  handsome  passions  in  the  majority." 

After  all,  are  we  not  much  too  scornful  of  emotions? 
It  is  true  that  men  are  often  governed  by  unjustified 
emotions ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  they  are  often  led  astray 
by  false  logic.  There  are  more  men  who  feel  truly  than 
there  are  who  reason  justly.  Even  Huxley,  who  held 
up  the  ideal  of  a  mind  which  is  a  "cold  logic  engine," 
wished  men  to  have  strong  emotions,  though  well  con- 
trolled.   So  eminent  a  scientist  as  Baldwin  has  written :  ^ 

"Neither  will  logic  satisfy  /.ir  ii.oral  or  aesthetic  de- 
mands, for  the  logically  true  is  often  immoral  and  hid- 

1  From  a  speech  to  the  New  York  Sou-hern  Society  in  1910- 
found  in  Wood's  After-Dinner  Speeri'.rft.  p.  46. 

2  Elements  of  Psychology,  p.  262. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


eous.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  write  large  the  truth  that 
logiCiil  consistency  is  not  the  whole  of  reality,  and  that 
the  reyolt  of  the  heart  against  fact  is  often  as  legitimate 
a  measure  of  the  true  in  this  shifting  universe  as  is  the 
cold  denial  given  by  rational  conviction  to  the  vagaries 
of  cajjual  feeling. ' ' 

In  the  third  place,  we  may  notice  that  emotions  not 
'QTO^erljl  helonging  to  the  argument  itself,  affect  de- 
cisions.  These  may  arise  from  the  occasion.  The  audi- 
ence may  be  enthusiastic  or  bored,  good  natured  or  angry. 
Again,  emotions  may  arise  from  the  relation  of  speaker 
and^udience.  They  may  feel  great  respect  for  him,  or  be 
pleased  by  his  manner,  his  friendliness  and  good  humor ; 
or  they  may  dislike  him  and  feel  resentment  or  suspicion, 
and  these  feelings  affect  the  influence  of  his  argument. 

Not  over-scrupulous  lawyers  for  the  defense  in  criminal  cases  in- 
sinuate that  the  prosecution  has  been  unfair,  and  that  the  prosecut- 
ing attorney  is  trying  to  win  reputation  by  ^'railroading"  innocent 
and  friendless  young  men  to  prison.  And,  although  the  trick  is 
old,  the  prosecuting  attorney,  knowing  that  he  cannot  safely  ignore 
the  prejudice  created  in  the  minds  of  the  jury,  labors  to  convince 
them  of  his  fairness  and  to  destroy  the  sympathy  created  for  the 
defendant. 

When  the  defendant's  attorney  in  the  famous  Captain  Joseph 
White  murder  case  sought  to  prejudice  the  jury  by  insinuating  that 
Webster  had  been  engaged  by  the  State  to  hurry  them  against  the 
law  and  beyond  the  evidence,  Webster  made  it  his  first  business  in 
summing  up  to  remove  the  prejudice  created.  He  commented  first  on 
his  lack  of  experience  as  a  prosecutor,  and  proceeded  : 

"I  hope  I  have  too  much  regard  for  justice  and  too  much  respect 
for  my  own  character,  to  attempt  either ;  and  were  to  make  such 
an  attempt,  I  am  sure  that  in  this  court  nothing  can  be  carried 
against  the  law,  and  that  gentlemen,  intelligent  and  just  as  you 
are,  are  not,  by  any  power,  to  be  hurried  beyond  the  evidence. 
.  .  .  Against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  an  individual,  I  cannot 
have  the  slightest  prejudice.  I  would  not  do  him  the  slightest 
injury  or  injustice.  But  I  do  not  affect  to  be  indifferent  to  the 
discovery  and  the  punishment  of  this  deep  guilt." 

Webster  then  proceeded  to  that  terrible  picture  of  the  cowardly 
stabbing  of  a  gentle  old  man  in  his  sleep,  removing  any  disposition 
in  the  jury  to  let  pity  obscure  duty ;  and  continued  with  an  intro- 


256 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


duction  that  fills  thirteen  pages,  preparing  the  jury  emot  or 
a  fair  consideration  of  his  argument,  before  he  took  up  th  e. 
One  studying  this  speech  will  find  many  places  in  which  '  ?d 
consciousness  of  the  danger  from  sympathy  and  prejudi(  n- 
stance,  in  the  careful  way  in  which  he  intimated  to  th(  •  le 
probability  that  the  defendants  old  father  was  untrustwoi  is 
testimony,  and  again  in  his  solemn  exhortatiQn  to  the  j\  le 
close. 

This  speech  will  repay  study.    It  will  be  found  i] 
Ewan's  Essentials  of  Argumentation,  with  an  outline,  j  l.i 
the  case,  and  also  many  helpful  comments,  scatterec^  throu.:^ij  ; 
text.    Study  the  whole  speech,  not  merely  introduction  auJ  ^-.j 
elusion. 

Prejudices  such  as  Webster  faced,  and  those  which  may 
arise  wEen  "one  discusses  a  race  question,  sectional  or 
sectarian  questions,  women's  suffrage,  or  fraternities,  are 
fairly  tangible;  but  others  are  more  elusive.  President 
Lowell  ^  mentions  not  only  religious  intolerance  and  racial 
antipathy,  but  also,  ^'the  horror  of  the  man  of  an  un- 
familiar form  of  worship,  the  instinctive  dislike  of  the 
man  who  speaks  a  different  tongue  or  pronounces  his 
words  in  a  strange  way, ' '  as  feelings  which  must  be  taken 
into  account  in  dealing  with  a  popular  opinion.  The  mere 
fact  that  a  man  comes  from  a  different  environment,  from 
city  or  country,  that  he  is  wealthy,  that  he  uses  ^*big" 
words,  that  he  is  a  college  professor,  may  affect  his  influ- 
ence either  favorably  or  unfavorably.  The  fact  that 
prejudice  is  politely  concealed  makes  it  no  less  real. 
Some  of  the  ladies  in  an  audience  may  think  a  young 
speaker,  '*such  a  dear  boy,"  but  feel  that  his  opinions 
are  therefore  inconsequential:  others  may  be  sure  he 
thinks  himself  mighty  smart."  Do  not  doubt  that  the 
fate  of  many  a  speech  is  determined  before  it  is  be- 
gun. 

To  summarize:    In  practical  argument  we  cannot  ij:- 

t  Public  Opinion  and  Popular  Government,  p.  36, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


257 


/  uore  the  part  of  emotion  in  determining  belief.  We  must 
consider  what  manner  of  men  we  are  addressing,  what 
feelings  move  them,  how  opposition  can  be  abated  and 
a  mood  of  friendliness  and  candor  established. 
And,  further,  what  we  wish  men  to  believe  it  is  wise 
first  to  make  them  willing,  or  make  them  wish,  to  be- 
lieve. 

V  The  approach.  It  is  evident  that  in  our  efforts  to  win 
past  opposition  to  open-minded  attention,  much  will  de- 
pend upon  first  impressions.  It  was  Cicero  who  said  that 
the  purpose  of  an  introduction  is  reddere  auditores  benev- 
olos,  attentos,  dociles,  which  has  been  well  translated,  ^'io 
render  the  hearers  well-disposed  toward  the  speaker,  at-  / 
tentive  toward  his  speech,  and  open  to  conviction." 
Genung  lays  much  stress  ^  on  the  ' '  speaker 's  alliance  with 
hisjandience, "  a  phrase  worth  remembering.  This  rela- 
tionship is  much  affected  by  the  characteristics  of  the 
speaker,  his  tact,  fairness,  courage,  sincerity,  etc., — mat- 
ters which  will  be  treated  further  on.  We  proceed  here 
to  other  matters  important  to  winning  a  fair  hearing  for 
a  proposition. 

Avoid  a  belligerent  attitude.  If  a  speaker  hopes  to 
gain  the  sympathy  of  his  audience,  he  should  not  start 
a  fight  with  them  by  assuming  that  he  and  they  are 
necessarily  in  disagreement.  A  humorous  writer  makes 
a  character  say,  ' '  Mother,  you  made  your  first  grand  mis- 
take in  running  Votes-for-Women  as  a  controversy.  It 
never  was.  It  is  not  now.  I  don 't  know  a  man  in  my  set 
who  understands  yet  what  the  arguments  against  women 's 
suffrage  are.  But  you  people  labeled  it  a  battle  and  we 
are  just  filling  in  the  mob  cues.  There  is  a  point  in  this 
exaggeration.  Not  long  ago  I  heard  presented  so  bel- 
ligerently one  of  my  strongest  convictions, — ^that  first 

1  Practical  Rhetoric^  p.  449. 


253 


PUB 


LEAKING 


in  the  orator  is  the  ma 
contradict,  to  accept  t 


lat  I  felt  st  iongly  moved  to 
:  of  oppos..      '  e  speaker 


seemed  to  assign  to  all  .     -  :ers. 

Belligerency  is  part  :aiaily  unpersuasive,  as  well  as 
usually  unjust,  when  il  L^o  the  form  of  bitter  and  un- 
restrained denunciation. 

Here  is  a  speech  on  War,  which  starts  with  the  most  uncom- 
promising denunciation.  War  has  absolutely  no  justification.  The 
general  tone  of  the  speech  indicates  that  he  who  differs  is  a  fool  or 
a  monster.  The  speech  is  as  unreasoning  as  war  itself.  No  at- 
tempt is  made  to  lead  step  by  step  the  man  who  has  no  clearly 
formed  opinion.  The  unfairness  and  exaggeration  of  this  speech 
fairly  force  one  into  opposition.  Here  is  another  speech  urging 
municipal  ownership  of  street  railways.  The  would-be  orator  leaps 
at  once  into  the  fiercest  denunciation  of  capital  and  corporations; 
and  with  slight  argument  urges  us  to  rise  in  our  wrathful  manhood 
and  resist  the  tyranny  of  five-cent  fares. 

Least  tactful  of  all  are  opprobrious  epithets  applied  to 
the  persons  and  institutions  one  is  opposing;  as  when 
Garrison  called  the  Constitution  covenant  with  death 
and  an  agreement  with  Hell."  A  suffrage  agitator  re- 
cently referred  to  ''our  mossgrown  Constitution";  but 
when  an  auditor  rose  to  protest,  she  promptly  retracted 
the  term  and  declared  she  meant  no  disrespect !  Abusive 
terms,  especially  when  applied  to  persons,  turn  sympathy 
from  the  speaker.  Even  that  savagely  extravagant  de- 
nouncer, Wendell  Phillips,  once  checked  Charles  Remond, 
who  had  declared  that  ''George  Washington  was  a  vil- 
lain. "  "  Charles, ' '  said  Phillips, ' '  the  epithet  is  not  felic- 
itous." Benjamin  Lundy,  another  uncompromising  foe 
of  slavery,  held  that  "the  language  of  cutting  retort  and 
severe  rebuke,  is  seldom  convincing,  and  it  is  wholly  out 
of  place  in  persuasive  speech." 

There  is  a  time  for  denunciation,  but  that  time  is  not 
when  you  are  asking  your  audience  to  consider  fairly 
a  proposal  not  yet  accepted.    When  one  is  addressing 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


259 


those  in  agreement,  for  the  piirpose  of  arousing  them,  de- 
nunciation may  win  a  quick  success,  though  unlimited 
denunciation  is  rarely  just.  But  its  effect  upon  those  in 
opposition  is  manifestly  unfortunate,  and  it  is  likely  to 
cause  neutrals  to  sympathize  with  those  denounced.  A 
campaign  of  abuse  is  rarely  successful  in  politics. 

Argument  is  the  most  usual,  and  certainly  the  most 
tangible,  method  of  changing  belief.  When  objections 
are  certainly  in  your  hearers'  mind,  the  best  way  usually 
is  to  recognize  them  and  answer  them  directly  and  boldly, 
though  not  belligerently.  Nevertheless,  conceal  it  as 
much  as  one  can,  there  is  still  in  argr  ment  an  attempt  to 
overcome  that  provokes  resistance.  In  candid  minds 
this  is  largely  offset  by  their  loyalt}^  to  truth.  But  it  is 
quickened  by  the  attitude  we  cAl  ^^argumentative,"  es- 
pecially if  there  is  a  touch  triumph  in  it.  We  dislike 
one  who  relentlessly  proves  us  wrong  and  himself  alto- 
gether right.  Miss  Ida  Tarbell  somewhere  uses  a  sug- 
gestive phrase  in  speaking  of  the  Canadian  leader,  Mac- 
donald:  ''He  is  a  convincing  speaker  whom  one  does 
not  resent.'' 

This  tendency  to  resist  argument  is  of  course  stronger 
in  minds  not  candid,  either  in  general  or  with  reference 
to  a  particular  argument.  With  such  it  is  often  justifi- 
able to  avoid  the  direct  onslaught  and  make  a  flank  attack. 
Sometimes  we  may  avoid  reference  to  controverted  points 
and  dwell  upon  propositions  less  likely  to  stir  opposition, 
but  which  involve  the  desired  conclusion.  One  might 
make  headway  with  women  more  strongly  than  thought- 
fully opposed  to  women's  suffrage,  by  avoiding  all  refer- 
ence to  the  ballot  and  discussing  laws  which,  in  certain 
states,  discriminate  against  women.  Assuming  that  a 
good  case  can  be  made  out  and  resentment  awakened,  one 
might  find  the  anti-suffragists  themselves  demanding  the 


260 


PUBI 


/MAKING 


ballot  as  a  means  of  f r  eform.    We  may  sometimes 

merely  suggest  the  de  v  inclusion,  hoping  that  it  .will 
stick  in  memory  aji^^^'r  ^^^Tme^get  candid  consideration. 
Sometimes  we  may  assent  rather  than  argue  for 

it.  This  method  c<  .  pon  inertia;  a  man  who  would 
not  positive!     -se  t,  may  fail  actively  to  reject. 

Better  tha  ometimes  is  just  to  describe  the 

conditions  to  proposal  relates.    The  influence 

of  Uncle  Tom  surpassed  that  of  many  arguments, 

put  as  argume.iis.  Pages'  Red  Rock  served  to  open  the 
eyes  of  Norther  -  rr  r -ers  to  the  Southern  attitude  toward 
the  freedman.  .  ^  nost  effective  peace  speech  I  ever 
heard  was  in  f  V  a  description  of  the  fighting  in 

Belgium. 

If  those  who  since  .  :  ^ of  the  Great  War  have  been 

trying  to  argue  American  .>7>i3:i><»D  .uict-  a  more  favorable  state  toward 
Germany,  could  put  forwai  •  ':i'Ufipi:in  who,  without  a  touch  of 
the  rancorous  argumentative!.  ■  vk-^h  characterizes  such  papers 
as  The  Fatherland,  could  make  u.  ^alize  Germany  and  the  Germans, 
not  the  men  of  "blood  and  iron,"  but  the  simple,  homely,  likable 
Germans,  could  make  us  realize  that  they  are  just  *'folks,''  not 
merely  efficient  destructive  machines,  they  could  win  a  hearing  for 
^  their  genuine  arguments. 

Common  ground.  Not  only  should  we  avoid  awaken- 
ing hostility;  we  should  seek  an  alliance  with  our  audi- 
..ence  by  getting  on  common  ground  with  them.  In 
Chapter  VI  we  considered  the  advantage  of  finding  a  com- 
mon girou,n^d^'9f  inte7Tsi-f  and  leading  on  from  this,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principle  of  derived  interest.  This  is 
persuasive,  as  are  nearly  all  the  means  of  winning  at- 
tention. 

We  like  a  person  who  shares  our  interests.  When  two 
persons  are  interested  in  the  same  sport,  study  or  busi- 
ness, each  is  likely  to  assume  that  the  other  is  a  proper 
sort  of  person,  wise  in  his  general  outlook,    Consider  how 


Pn^RSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


261 


casual  acquaintanL."'s,  perhaps  on  a  railway  journey,  are 
drawn  together  by  G.iscovering  that  they  have  the  same 
enthusiasms,  have  gone  through  the  same  experiences, 
even  the  same  ailments,  come  from  the  same  town,  sprung 
from  the  same  race,  have  gone  to  the  same  college,  or  that 
both  are  Republicans  or  Presbyterians.  Bonds  as  strong 
and  as  slight  as  these!  draw  men  together  into  societies 
holding  conventions  and  dinners.  Business  men  think 
it  worth  while  to  spend  a  little  time  in  getting  on  easy 
terms  with  a  stranger  with  whom  they  hope  to  do  busi-  ^ 
ness,  by  talking  of  common  interests.  So  the  skilful: 
speaker  may  break  the  ice  by  referring  to  common  inter- 
ests, if  possible  those  which  will  form  a  natural  introduc- 
tion to  his  theme. 

There  is  also  a  common  ground  of  feeling  to  be  con- 
sidered. While  in  most  cases  th'e"*^sR^aigKtest  way  into  a 
subject  is  the  best  w^ay,  at  times  it  is  advisable  to  spend 
a  few  minutes  in  bringing  the  audience  into  a  desired 
mood.  Finding  common  interests  helps  in  this.  The 
awakening  of  old  memories  may  serve,  or  emphasis  upon^ 
common  likes  and  dislikes  and  associations.  Stories  are 
much  used,  humorous  and  dramatic.  Hostility  cannot 
survive  the  sharing  of  a  common  emotion,  and  especially 
is  it  blown  away  by  a  gale  of  laughter.  In  using  any 
device  it  is  well  to  consider:  (1)  Is  it  needed?  (2)  Am  I 
giving  too  much  time  to  it?  (3)  Can  I  make  my  story,  or 
whatever  is  used,  serve  also  the  purpose  of  opening  my 
subject;  or  can  I  make  the  proper  materials  of  my 
speech,  as  the  statement  of  conditions  to  be  treated,  serve 
to  induce  the  right  mood? 

To  create  sympathy  is  the  sovereign  remedy  for  genuine  hostility. 
Suppose  a  defender  of  Austria-Hungary  is  striving  to  convince  a 
hostile  audience  that  that  nation  was  right  in  its  ultimatum  to  Servia. 
He  knows  his  ;^udience  will  not  listen  patiently  at  first  to  his  argu- 


262 


PUBLIC  SPEAKI 


raents  based  on  the  assassination  of  the  lince  and  Servian 
plotting  in  general.  He  therefore  remir  '  some  detail  of  how 
the  blowing  up  of  the  Maine  incensed  ..st  Spain.  He  asks 
us  to  consider  the  effect  of  having  a  on  our  border  trying 
constantly  to  stir  up  one  section  of  .ed  States  against  an- 
other, or  inciting  the  members  of  o  j  revolt.  In  every  way 
he  tries  to  get  us  *'to  put  ourselv^  other  fellow's  place." 

;  There  is  also  a  common  groijina'df^ViefT  To  find  this 
'is  one  of  the  best  establislied  means  of  persuasion.  In  the 
first  place,  better  feeling  results  from  the  discovery  by  the 
audience  that  they  have  more  in  common  with  the  speaker 
than  was  supposed,  and  that  he  is  not  so  radical  or  so 
conservative  as  they  had  thought.  This  discovery  pre- 
pares the  way  for  the  belief  that  his  present  proposal 
is  not  impossible.  There  is  also  an  enjoyment  in  har- 
mony of  views,  and  it  is  a  wrench  to  stop  agreeing  with 
a  man  with  whom  one  has  gone  some  way  in  harmony. 
Give  an  audience  something  it  will  indorse  as  commoji 
sense,  and  once  the  heads  are  nodding  in  assent,  they  are 
likely  to  go  on  nodding.  The  assenting  mood  continues, 
as  by  easy  stages  the  speaker  leads  from  the  common 
ground  to  the  desired  position. 

Of  Wendell  Phillips's  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration,  Barrett  Wendell 
says :  i 

"A  good  many  went  to  hear  him  with  much  curiosity  as  to  what 
he  might  say,  and  apprehension  that  they  might  have  to  disapprove 
it  by  silence  at  moments  which  to  less  balanced  minds  might  seem 
to  call  for  applause.  In  the  earlier  parts  of  his  oration  they  found 
themselves  agreeably  surprised :  he  said  nothing  to  which  they 
were  unprepared  to  assent,  and  what  he  said  he  said  beautifully. 
They  listened  with  relief  and  satisfaction.  When  the  moment  for 
applause  came,  they  cordially  applauded.  So  the  oration  went  on 
with  increasing  interest  on  the  part  of  the  audience.  Finally 
when  some  fresh  moment  for  applause  came,  they  auded  as  a 
matter  of  course." 

/  While  the  common  ground  may  be  use*.  somewhat 

sly  way,  do  not  suppose  it  is,  of  itself,  .  late.  If 

to  avoid  prejudice  and  to  bring  about  har  f  feeliii,^ 

1  English  Compositioriy  p.  243, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


263 


so  that  fair-mindedness  shall  prevail,  is  right,  then  this 
method  is  right.  Usually  people  actually  differ  much  less 
than  they  suppose.  Unless  they  proceed  to  find  out 
what  they  agree  upon,  they  may  continue  to  differ  quite 
unnecessarily  and  develop  a  small  divergence  of  views 
into  a  bitter  combat.  Some  one  has  said  that  there  never 
was  a  war  that  could  not  have  been  settled  by  two 
honest  men  come  together  for  frank  discussion. 

When  Pat  went  to  Mike  and  said,  "Let 's  talk  over  our  differen- 
ces," the  wiser  Mike  replied,  "No,  let 's  talk  over  our  agreements." 
Mike's  method  was  likely  to  lead  to  a  settlement ;  Pat's  to  a  fight. 

A  speaker  addressing  a  meeting  of  his  own  political 
party,  seeking  to  win  them  to  his  views  on  a  party  prob- 
lem, has  no  difficulty  in  finding  common  ground  in  the 
general  beliefs  and  policies  of  the  party.  When  he  ad- 
dresses those  of  other  party  affiliations,  he  still  should 
have  no  difficulty ;  for,  after  all,  fair-minded  men  of  all 
parties  agree  in  most  respects.  All  wish,  at  least  in  a 
general  way,  prosperity,  justice  for  all  men  and  defense 
of  the  national  honor.  Political  parties  differ  more  as  to 
method  than  as  to  principles.  All  wish  to  control  the 
trusts,  for  example,  but  how?  Very  absurd  in  speeches 
designed  to  win  votes  from  other  parties,  are  assertions 
that  an  opposing  party  wishes  to  ruin  the  country,  like 
the  reiterated  assertion  that  the  Cleveland  Democracy 
wished  to  sacrifice  the  country  to  the  interests  of  England. 

Mr.  Job  Hedges,  Republican  candidate  for  Governor  of  New 
York  in  1912,  made  a  much  more  successful  campaign  than  seemed 
possible  under  the  circumstances.  His  aim  was  to  win  back  the 
Progressives  to  the  Republican  fold.  He  refrained  from  denuncia- 
tion of  the  new  party,  such  as  was  common  in  that  year,  and  with 
the  utmost  good  humor  dwelt  much  upon  what  Republicans  and 
Progressives  have  in  common. 

In  no  field  is  controversy  likely  to  be  more  bitter  than  in  the 
religious,  yet  nowhere  is  there  better  opportunity  for  getting  on 


^64  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

common  ground.    A  Methodist  addressing  M  ,  though  his 

audience  contains  representatives  of  all  the  <  :  sects  under 

that  general  name,  has  a  wide  field  of  comm(  sts,  aims  and 

docrtrines  to  select  from.    No  matter  how  fa  i  be  from  his 

brethren  on  the  point  at  issue,  he  knows  tha  ,'ree  on  a  gen- 

eral sj'stem  of  doctrine  and  church  polity,  a  '  he  can  appeal 

confidently  to  John  Wesley  as  an  accepted  ^   ty.  If  he  ad- 
dresses an  audience  composed  of  representatives  of  all  Protestant 
churches,  he  still  knows  his  ground,  by  what  common  aims,  beliefs 
and  history  they  are  bound  together,  and  that  most  will  respect  the 
name  of  Luther.  If  he  seeks  to  win  both  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
he  still  has  the  advantage  of  a  large  common  ground  and  he  can 
depend  upon  a  common  allegiance  to  one  Founder.  And  likewise 
Jew  and  Gentile  have  a  common  foundation  in  the  Old  Testament. 

Finding  common  ground  is  helpful,  not  only  in  securing 
harmony  between  speaker  and  audience,  but  also,  as  the 
preceding  example  suggests,  in  securing  harmony  among 
the  factions  of  the  audience  itself.  There  are  times  when 
the  common  ground  is  too  evident  to  need  development ; 
yet  even  when  evident  there  may  be  wisdom  in  dwelling 
upon  it,  as  when  Webster  in  his  Reply  to  Hayne,  knowing 
that  sectional  feeling  in  his  audience  and  in  the  country 
was  running  high,  paused  to  say,  *^Let  me  recur  to  pleas- 
ing recollections;  let  me  indulge  in  refreshing  remem- 
brances of  the  past,"  and  went  on  to  remind  his  audience 
of  the  Revolutionary  days  when  Massachusetts  and  South 
Carolina  fought  shoulder  to  shoulder.  In  any  case  it  is 
wise  for  the  speaker  to  think  out  the  boundaries  of  the 
common  ground  in  order  that  he  may  make  no  false  as- 
sumptions. 

The  usefulness  of  the  common  ground  is  not  limited, 
though  it  is  most  conspicuous,  to  cases  where  antagonism 
exists.  Beecher  has  put  the  case  well.^  He  tells  how  as 
a  boy  he  never  hit  anything  with  his  gun  until  his  father 
showed  him  how  to  take  careful  aim.    When  he  became  a 


1  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching,  p.  11. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


265 


preacher  he  failed  for  two  years  to  get  results  with  his 
sermons.  Then  he  reviewed  all  the  sermons  of  the 
apostles : 

''And  I  studied  the  sermons  until  I  got  this  idea: 
That  the  apostles  were  accustomed  first  to  feel  for  a 
ground  on  which  the  people  and  they  stood  together;  a 
common  ground  where  they  could  meet.  Then  they 
heaped  up  a  large  number  of  the  particulars  of  knowl- 
edge that  belonged  to  everybody ;  and  when  they  got  that 
knowledge,  which  everybody  would  admit,  placed  in  a 
proper  form  before  their  minds,  then  they  brought  it  to 
bear  upon  them  with  all  their  excited  heart  and  feeling. 
That  was  the  first  definite  idea  of  taking  aim  that  I  had 
in  my  mind. 

"  'Now,'  said  I,  'I  will  make  a  sermon  so.'  .  .  .  First 
I  sketched  out  the  things  we  all  know.  .  .  .  And  in  that 
way  I  went  on  with  my  '  You  all  knows, "  until  I  had 
about  forty  of  them.  When  I  got  through  with  that,  I 
turned  round  and  brought  it  to  bear  upon  them  with  all 
my  might ;  and  there  were  seventeen  men  awakened  under 
that  sermon.  I  never  felt  so  triumphant  in  my  life.  I 
cried  all  the  way  home.  I  said  to  myself:  'Now  I 
know  how  to  preach. '  ' ' 

Explanations.  In  order  to  delimit  the  common  ground 
and  determine  how  much  is  agreed  upon  and  also  what  are 
the  real  points  at  issue,  it  is  often  necessary  to  clear  the 
ground  by  certain  explanations.  The  audience  may  be 
opposed  simply  because  they  do  not  understand.  Again, 
the  speaker's  proposal  may  have  been  purposely 
misrepresented;  as  when  it  was  asserted  by  opponents 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  1912  that  his  plan  for  the 
"review  of  judicial  decisions''  involved  the  determin- 
ing of  litigation  between  individuals  by  the  public. 
Racial  or  religious  prejudice  may  have  been  awakened. 
A  political  boss  attacked  for  corruption  may  have  ap- 
pealed to  some  hoary  sectional  animosity,  or  proclaimed 


266 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


that  popular  government  and  the  Con  q 
peril. 

To  clear  the  ground  there  is  no  bette  in  many- 

cases,  than  to  state  the  origin  and  history  oj  the  question^ 
thus  showing  why  it  has  come  before  us  and  just  what 
its  implications  are.  The  proposition  that  the  United 
States  has  no  right  to  let  American  ships  pass  through 
its  own  Panama  Canal  free  of  charge,  may  seem  to  be 
very  absurd;  but  if  a  speaker  who  wishes  to  argue  the 
affirmative,  of  that  proposition,  puts  before  his  hearers 
the  history  of  the  question,  the  series  of  treaties  by  which 
we  acquired  the  right  to  build  the  canal  at  all,  the  ab- 
surdity will  disappear,  and  the  audience  will  probably 
meet  the  speaker  on  the  common  ground  of  our  obliga- 
tion to  abide  by  our  treaties.  Then  the  issue  becomes 
one  of  the  construction  of  treaties,  which  can  be  calmly 
discussed. 

Lincoln  had  unusual  ability  in  arriving  at  a  clear  understanding 
with  his  audience,  and  this  seems  to  have  sprung  from  his  habit  of 
mind  and  method  of  preparation. 

An  intimate  friend  of  Lincoln  says  that  his  mind  "ran  back  be- 
hind facts,  principles,  and  all  things,  to  their  origin,  and  first 
cause.  .  .  .  Before  he  could  form  an  idea  of  anything,  before  he 
would  express  his  opinion  on  a  subject,  he  must  know  its  origin  and 
history  in  substance  and  quality,  in  magnitude  and  gravity."  We 
can  see  this  trait  of  Lincoln's  working  out,  at  once  remorselessly 
and  gleefully,  in  the  introduction  to  his  famous  Coopei  ^--"^^^"te 
speech : 

.  .  In  his  speech  last  Autumn  at  Columbus,  Ohi<  .  )r 
Douglas  »aid  : 

"'Our  fathers,  when  they  framed  the  government  unr';  r  w!  ^h 
we  live,  understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  b»^ti.(  \'  m 
we  do  now.' 

"I  fully  indorse  this,  and  adopt  it  as  a  text  for  this  •  le. 
I  so  adopt  it  because  it  furnishes  a  precise  and  an  agree  g- 
point  for  a  discussion  between  the  Republicans  and  th  -  of 
the  Democracy  headed  by  Senator  Douglas.  It  simply  he 
inquiry:  What  was  the  understanding  those  fathers  '  he 
question  mentioned? 

"What  is  the  frame  of  government  under  which  we  he 
answer  must  be,  *The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


267 


"Who  were  our  fathers  that  framed  the  Constitution?  I  sup- 
pose the  'thirty-nine'  who  signed  the  original  instrument  may  be 
fairly  called  our  fathers  who  framed  that  part  of  the  present 
government.  .  .  . 

"What  is  the  question  which,  according  to  the  text,  those  fathers 
understood  'just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now'?  It  is 
this :  Does  the  proper  division  of  local  from  Federal  authority, 
or  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbid  our  Federal  Government 
to  control  as  to  slavery  in  our  Federal  territories? 

"Upon  this,  Senator  Douglas  holds  the  affirmative,  and  Republi- 
cans the  negative.  This  affirmative  and  denial  form  an  issue.  .  .  . 
Let  us  now  inquire  whether  the  'thirty-nine,'  or  any  of  them,  ever 
acted  on  this  question ;  and  if  they  did,  how  they  acted  upon  it — 
how  they  expressed  that  better  understanding." 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  shows  by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  "thirty- 
nine,"  in  Congress  and  in  other  public  positions,  that  they  acted 
in  a  way  to  indicate  that  they  understood  the  Constitution  as  the 
Republicans,  not  as  Douglas,  interpreted  it. 

As  an  example  of  a  speaker  laboring  to  set  himself  right  before 
an  audience  to  whom  his  attitude  has  been  misrepresented,  see  the 
introduction  to  Lincoln's  first  speech  in  his  debate  with  Douglas  at 
Alton.  Douglas  had  taken  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  audience 
was  largely  pro-slavery  in  its  sympathies,  to  present  Lincoln  as 
an  advocate  of  the  complete  political  and  social  equality  of  negroes 
with  the  whites. 

Definition^of  terms.  It  is  common  experience  that  argu- 
ments often  turn  on  misunderstandings ;  that  when  each 
party  to  an  argument  learns  what  the  real  contention  of 
the  other  is,  often  the  argument  is  over.  If,  instead  of 
starting  an  argument  with  a  man  who  denounces  religion 
and  churches,  you  quietly  draw  him  out,  you  will  find 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  that  he  is  objecting  to  certain 
practices  of  certain  churches,  or  to  the  actions  of  certain 
hypocritical  church  members,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  be- 
lieves in  religion  and  churches  too.  -  But  even  if  defini- 
tion of  terms  does  not  remove  the  issues,  or  even  reduce 
^their  number,  it  at  least  enables  us  to  know  what  they 
are.  You  will  notice  how  Lincoln's  definition  of  *^our 
fathers,''  just  quoted,  changes  Douglas's  statement  from 
a  safely  vague  assertion  to  a  dangerously  specific  prop- 
osition. 


^68 


PUBLK 


VKING 


In  defining  terms  the  dicti 
sufficient,  as  is  illustrated  by 
Should  American  colleges  s 
the  present  close  formation 
longs  rather  in  the  works 


useful,  but  by  no  means  all- 
or  Baker  with  the  propQsition, 
a  more  open  style  of  play  for 
aition  is  a  problem  which  be- 
position.    A  helpful  discussion 


will  be  found  in  Baker's  1  '  :\  ;  of  Argumentation,  pp.  20-42. 
From  the  standpoint  of  p'  rsuasiou,  the  main  point  is  that  there 
should  be  a  common  unden     r;*-    for  the  sake  of  avoiding  needless 


rule  :  and  further,  that  one  u*.  .ne  best  ways  of  clearing  up  the 
meanings  of  terms  is  by  stating  the  origin  and  history  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

Concessions.  In  the  early  days  of  the  European  war, 
when  the  Germans  were  sweeping  the  French  back  to- 
wards Paris,  I  heard  an  argument  on  the  comparative 
merits  of  the  French  and  Germans  as  fighters.  The  argu- 
ment promised  to  grow  heated;  but  when  it  was  discov- 
ered that  one  party  was  talking  of  generalship  and  the 
other  of  the  fighting  qualities  of  private  soldiers,  the  argu- 
ment, and  not  the  arguers,  ^^blew  up."  This  was  partly 
a  matter  of  definition,  but  also  involved  mutual  conces- 
sions. Perhaps  the  most  unpopular  man  I  know  is  one 
who  never  concedes  anything  in  an  argument.  To  the 
simplest  claim,  he  demurs;  to  an  assertion  of  the  most 
evident  fact,  he  retorts,  ^^That  is  your  opinion. No 
means  of  finding  common  ground,  removing  distrust  and 
3stablishing  good  feeling,  is  more  important  than  making 
concessions.  Concessions  provoke  concessions.  If  you 
will  be  generous  in  admitting  that  I  am  in  part  right,  I 
shall  be  ashamed  to  deal  otherwise  with  you.  If  you  are 
going  to  take  your  stand  against  woman 's  suffrage  on  the 
ground  that  the  majority  of  women  do  ,not  desire  the 
ballot,  do  not  antagonize  your  hearers  by  refusing  to 
admit  that  women  are  capable  of  voting.  The  advocates 
of  woman's  suffrage  are  most  effective  when  they  admit 


contention.  It  may  be  adc 
to  fix  in  the  minds  of  his  f 
terms,  unless  this  is  necef 


it  is  unwise  for  a  speaker  to  try 
an  unusual  meaning  for  familiar 
r  their  preconceptions  are  apt  to 


PERSL  ASION  AND  BELIEF 


269 


that  woman's  place  is  in  the  home,  and  argue  that 
she  needs  the  ballot  to  protect  her  home.  What  one 
( annot  conscientiously  admit,  he  may  ignore,  or  admit 
"for  the  sake  of  argument'';  or  he  may  say  of  it,  ^^I 
will  not  contest  that." 

By  conceding,  one  escapes  the  discredit  of  a  refutation 
of  unjustifiable  claims.  If  you  concede  woman 's  capacity 
for  intelligent  voting,  you  escape  a  vigorous  onslaught 
which  might  discredit  you  with  some  audiences,  and 
also  distract  attention  from  your  main  argument. 

In  his  defense  of  Father  Damien,  Stevenson  says : 

''Damien  has  been  too  much  depicted  with  a  conventional  halo. 
.  .  .  It  is  the  least  defect  of  such  a  method  of  portraiture  that  it 
makes  the  path  easy  for  the  deviVs  advocate,  and  leaves  for  the 
misuse  of  the  slanderer  a  considerable  field  of  truth.  For  the  truth 
that  is  suppressed  by  friends  is  the  readiest  weapon  of  the  enemy." 

The  real  issues.  AVhen  the  common  ground  is  well 
marked  out,  definitions  and  explanations  made,  conces- 
sion carried  as  far  as  is  wise,  and  immaterial  matter 
eliminated,  then  the  real  matter  in  dispute,  if  there  is 
anything  left,  should  be  evident;  and  it  should  then  be 
possible  to  discuss  this  with  good  feeling.  To  make  the 
issue  or  issues  the  more  evident,  it  is  well  usually,  in  any 
but  the  simplest  argument,  to  state  carefully  what  the 
speaker  maintains  and  what  he  understands  the  opposi- 
tion to  maintain. 

All  this  preliminary  work  should  be  done  with  manifest 
fairness.  If  you  have  given  an  untrue  history,  distorting 
or  omitting  important  points,  if  your  definitions  are 
warped,  or  your  proposal  or  the  issues  are  not  fairly  set 
forth,  you  will  be  exposed  to  the  charge  of  trickery, 
and  will  deserve  the  discredit  of  exposure.  Even  the  man 
who  will  concede  nothing,  who  is  plainly  bigoted  and 
prejudiced,  will  make  a  better  impression  than  one  who 
under  pretense  of  fairness  attempts  to  deceive  his  audi- 


270 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ence.  The  best  opinion  is  that,  even  on  the  ground  of 
expedienoV  when  one  is  striving  to  win  over  the  un- 
convir  ^en  honest  partizanship  should  be  excluded 
fr"  ./duetion  of  an  argument.    Much  emphasis 

\'ak  bvii'vi  J  laced  by  Lincoln's  contemporaries  upon  the  ex- 
trcn  e  iairness  with  which  he  would  state  the  facts  and 
T  'jsent  the  issues  of  a  law  suit,  frequently  alarming  his 
client  by  the  way  in  which  we  would  ''give  away  his 
case. ' ' 

Any  good  text  on  argumentation  will  give  a  more  complete  and 
technical  treatment  of  methods  of  analysis  of  questions  for  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  issues,  a  problem  treated  here  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  persuasion.  The  second  chapter  in  Baker's  Principles  of 
Argumentation  and  the  second  chapter  in  Foster's  Argumentation 
and  Debating  are  recommended.  ^ 

Order  of  argument.  A  speaker  will  usually  have  at  his 
command  several  arguments,  all  sound  and  legitimate, 
but  some  stronger  than  others.  The  order  in  which  these 
should  be  placed  may  be  determined  by  the  demands  of 
logic  or  intelligibility ;  but  not  infrequently  the  arrange- 
ment is  adjustable.  In  such  a  case,  so  far  as  pure  reason 
is  concerned,  each  argument  will  have  its  full  force  re- 
gardless of  position ;  but  from  the  standpoint  of  persua- 
sion, of  adaptation  to  a  given  audience,  order  may  be  im- 
portant. Frequently  the  order  of  climax  is  best ;  it  usu- 
ally is  if  the  audience  is  not  strongly  in  opposition.  But 
with  a  prejudiced  audience  it  may  be  necessary  to  present 
the  strongest  possible  argument  first,  in  order  to  get  any 
hearing  at  all.  After  a  breach  in  the  walls  of  prejudice 
has  been  made  by  the  artillery,  the  infantry  can  pass 
through.  To  begin  with  the  weaker  argument  may  give 
the  impression  that  t^  vhole  case  is  weak.  On  the  other 
hand,  anticlimax  *  ^  avoided.  Baker  suggests  that 
it  is  sometimes  bes  ^e  the  weaker  arguments  in 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


271 


middle  of  a  speech.  It  may  be  suggested  further  that 
when  the  strongest  argument  has  been  used  first,  one  may 
return  to  it  at  the  end,  or  summarize  all  in  the  order  of 
climax.  One  should  not,  of  course,  use  arguments  that 
are  absolutely  weak,  even  though  sound ;  that  is,  weak  to 
the  degree  that  they  weaken  the  case  in  the  minds  of  the 
audience  or  give  an  opponent  an  opportunity  for  telling 
refutation. 

Whether  one  should  begin  with  general  principles  and 
proceed  to  arguments  based  upon  particular  facts,  and 
whether  one  should  state  in  the  beginning  what  he  intends 
to  prove,  are  typical  problems  of  persuavsive  argument, 
to  be  solved  largely  with  reference  to  the  attitude  of  the 
audience.  Are  the  principles  likely  to  be  rejected  if 
presented  at  once  ?  Is  the  proposal  too  startling  or  too 
^n^agohisficT If  the  audience  is  not  likely  to  be  thrown 
into  opposition  there  are  advantages  in  setting  forth 
at  once  what  one  proposes  to  establish  and  upon  what 
principles  one  rests ;  for  this  enables  the  audience  to  see 
the  bearing  of  each  argument  as  it  is  brought  forward. 
But  where  hostility  might  be  awakened  by  this  method, 
there  is  an  advantage  in  beginning  with  a  narrative  or 
description  of  conditions,  or  whatever  will  create  a  mood 
more  favorable  to  the  proposal.  One  who  has  to  propose 
a  measure  rather  socialistic  in  nature  as  a  remedy  for 
some  social  malady,  might  dwell  first  on  the  malad}^  itself 
with  a  view  to  creating  a  strong  desire  for  some  remedy. 
He  might  then  eliminate  other  proposed  remedies,  leav- 
ing the  one  he  believes  in.  If  one  wishes  to  secure  sub- 
"scriptions  from  hard-headed  business  men  for  a  plan 
to  provide  cheap  homes  for  the  poor,  he  might  well  begin 
with  a  demonstration  of  the  sound  business  aspect  of  the 
scheme,  showing  that  it  will  pay  five  per  cent,  on  the 
money  invested,  before  pressing  home  his  plea. 


272 


PUBLIC  SPEAKiy 


If  you  wish  to  bring  a  rigidly  orthodox 
the  "higher  criticism"  of  the  Bible,  do  d 
which  has  to  them  a  sinister  sound.  P 
with  the  great  value  of  the  Bible,  its  pi? 
tell  how  men  give  their  lives  to  its  stu' 
all  truth  about  such  a  book  is  importan. 
how  and  through  what  agencies  the 
awaken  curiosity  in  some  of  the  prob 
first  evidence  which  confirms  some 
knowing  it,  the  congregation  become 
cism  and  realizes  that  the  studies  w 
be  reverent. 

One  must  not  dogmatize  or  ^'many  men  have 

many  minds/'  and  also  m  iings.    Much  depends 

upon  the  audience  and  upon  the  authority  and  manner 
of  the  speaker ;  and  also  upon  his  precise  aims. 

Wendell  Phillips  began  his  famous  eulogy  of  Toussaint  L'Ouver- 
ture  by  declaring,  "I  attempt  the  quixotic  effort  to  convince  you 
that  the  negro  blood,  instead  of  standing  at  the  bottom  of  the  list, 
is  entitled,  if  judged  by  its  courage,  its  purpose,  or  its  endurance, 
to  a  place  as  near  ours  as  any  other  blood  known  in  history.'*  We 
may  like  the  boldness  of  this ;  but  I  cannot  agree  with  those  who 
think  that  was  a  good  way  to  begin,  if  he  really  hoped  to  win  assent 
to  his  proposition  that  negro  blood  is  the  equal  of  the  blood  of  the 
French,  Italian,  Roman,  or  Greek.  I  do  not  believe  that  Phillips 
expected  any  such  triumph  over  race  pride.  He  wanted  to  stir  up 
interest  and  set  people  thinking. 

In  choosing  our  opening  argument  we  should  remember 
the  tendency  of  men  to  believe  what  they  wish  to  believe. 
We  may  find  it  best  sometimes  to  appeal  first  to  the 
strongest  possible  motive^  to  set  forth  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  our  plan  before  attempting  to  prove  that 
the  benefits  will  follow,  or  that  the  plan  is  feasible.  If 
you  convince  a  student  audience  that  a  proposed  coaching 
system  will  bring  athletic  supremacy,  you  will  not  have  so 
hard  a  time  in  convincing  them  that  the  money  required 
can  be  raised.  You  may  present  to  a  dissolute  man  the 
happiness  his  reform  would  bring  his  family  so  vividly 


.tion  to  tolerate 
with  that  term, 
common  ground, 
Cory  and  religion ; 
asize  the  fact  that 
.ural  desire  to  know 
.s  come  to  us ;  and 
.uthorship,  taking  up 
mal  belief.  Without 
.ed  in  the  higher  criti- 
y  that  hated  name  may 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  27^ 

that  he  will  give  eager  ear  to  your  argument  that 
reform  for  him  is  possible.  Given  the  vision,  creating  de- 
sire, belief  in  possibility  will  follow. 

Rate  of  progress.  To  proceed  too  rapidly  with  your 
audience  militates  against  both  persuasion  and  conviction. 
There  must  be  time  for  attention  to  dwell  upon  the  ideas. 
In  general,  we  may  assume  that  country  audiences  think 
less  rapidly,  though  more  surely,  than  audiences  of  equal 
education,  drawn  from  the  rush  of  city  streets,  where 
quick  thinking  is  a  necessity  of  existence.  The  city 
audience  is  quick  in  its  appreciation  and  applause;  but 
it  may  follow  too  readily,  and  not  considering  carefully 
enough,  may  receive  but  a  shallow  impression  which  is 
quickly  lost  for  another.  With  almost  any  audience  ill, 
is  best  to  proceed  slowly,  present  but  one  principal  ideal 
and  impress  that  deeply. 

If  your  audience  is  made  up  of  trained  thinkers,  accus- 
tomed to  dealing  with  new  ideas  and  to  sustaining  long 
lines  of  thought,  and  especially  if  trained  in  the  field  of 
your  subject,  progress  may  be  more  rapid.  There  is  even 
danger  of  tantalizing  them  with  too  slow  progress.  How- 
ever, young  speakers  are  far  more  likely  to  proceed  too 
fast  than  too  slow;  or,  rather,  they  do  not  discriminate 
clearly  enough  what  may  be  passed  rapidly  because  it  is 
familiar,  accepted,  easy  of  comprehension,  or  less  im- 
portant, from  what  should  be  dwelt  upon  because  strange, 
difficult,  or  of  first-class  importance. 

Fix^d  opinions^  principles^  and  sentiments.  We  must 
take  into  account  those  established  principles  of  belief  and 
action  which,  springing  from  heredit^^  temperament  and 
early  training  rather  than  from  reason,  men  rarely 
change.  Such  are  our  beliefs  in  regard  to  the  position  of 
women,  the  rights  of  private  property,  our  American  con- 
viction that  for  a  city  or  a  university  to  grow  rapidly 


274 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


is  a  grand  thing,  our  objection  to  entangling  alli- 
ances. ' ' 

The  truth  is  somewhat  overstated  in  the  following  ex- 
cerpt from  Le  Bon.^ 

^'It  must  not  be  supposed  that  merely  because  the 
justness  of  an  idea  has  been  proved  it  can  be  productive 
of  effective  action,  even  on  cultivated  minds.  .  .  .  Evi- 
dence, if  it  be  very  plain,  may  be  accepted  by  an  edu- 
cated person,  but  the  convert  will  be  quickly  brought 
back  by  his  unconscious  self  to  his  original  conceptions. 
See  him  again  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  days  and  he  will 
put  forward  his  old  arguments  in  exactly  the  same  terms. 
He  is  in  reality  under  the  influence  of  anterior  ideas  that 
have  become  sentiments,  and  it  is  such  ideas  alone  that 
influence  the  recondite  motives  of  our  acts  a^d  utter- 
ances. It  cannot  be  otherwise  in  the  case  'of  crowds 
which  are  more  under  the  influence  of  general  ideas  than 
individuals.  ...  A  long  time  is  necessary  for  ideas  to 
establish  themselves  in  the  minds  of  crowds,  but  just  as 
long  a  time  is  necessary  for  them  to  be  eradicated. ' ' 

/ 

A  limitation  is  placed  on  the  preceding  by  this  from  the 
same  work :  ^ 

*'The  opinions  and  beliefs  of  crowds  may  be  divided, 
then,  into  two  very  distinct  classes.  On  the  one  hand 
we  have  great  permanent  beliefs,  which  endure  for  sev- 
eral centuries,  and  on  which  an  entire  civilization  may 
rest;  [for  example,  feudalism] .  .  .  .  In  the  second  place, 
there  are  the  transitory,  changing  opinions,  ...  as  su- 
perficial, as  a  rule,  as  fashion,  i  as  changeable.  .  .  . 
It  is  easy  to  imbue  the  mind^  owds  with  a  passing 
opinion,  but  very  difficult  to  t  therein  a  lasting 

belief.  .  .  .  Even  revolutions  .  ly  when  the  belief 

has  almost  entirely  lost  its  swa  nen's  minds.  .  , 

The  beginning  of  a  revolution  i.  lity  the  end  of 

belief." 

"  TJie  Crowd,  p.  52.  2  Me. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


275 


Frequently  men  do  not  know  why  they  hold  these 
permanent  beliefs ;  indeed,  they  may  hardly  be  conscious 
that  they  do  hold  them,  having  never  formulated  but 
merely  assumed  them.  Sometimes  they  will  not,  some- 
times they  cannot  reason  about  them.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  men  necessarily  hold  most  firmly  their 
reasoned  beliefs.  In^the  first  place,  the  reasoner  realizes 
that  another  opinion  is  possible;  while  one  who  takes 
his  opinions  from  his  environment  and  early  teaching 
holds  them  as  the  only  intelligent  views.  ''Everybody 
knows  that,"  he  says.  In  the  second  place,  a  reasoned 
belief  is  rarely  so  imbedded  in  habit  of  thought  and  in 
emotional  association  as  the  accepted  belief,  though  it 
may  so  grow  into  one's  system  of  thought  that  change 
is  well-nigh  impossible.  And  this  is  true  of  educated  men 
as  well  as  of  others. 

To  a  man  trained  in  the  older  school  of  thought  great  must  have 
been  the  effort  necessary  fifty  years  ago  to  readjust  his  thinking  to 
the  theory  of  evolution.  And  if  to-day  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
were  to  be  overturned  by  convincing  proofs,  v^e  should  see  many  men 
of  scientific  training  protesting  violently  that  the  thing  is  unthink- 
able,— which  for  them  would  be  literally  true.  They  would  make 
over  again  the  discredited  arguments  and  declare  they  could  not  and 
would  not  believe  the  new  theory. 

It  iajpllj^  evidently  enough,  to  try  to  change  a  fixed 
belief  in  a  single  speech ;  unless  it  has  already  been  much 
weakened.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  an  example  of  a 
belief  which  it  lias  been  useless  to  question  before  the 
American  people  until  recent  years;  but  to-day,  before 
many  audiences,  the  doctrine  is  debatable.  It  would  be 
folly  to  think  to  change  the  belief  of  the  average  Ameri- 
can audience  in  the  republican  form  of  government,  or  the 
belief  of  Roman  Catholics  in  the  religious  authority  of  the 
Pope.    It  is  particularly  foolish  to  attempt  to  change 


276 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


quickly  beliefs  that  are  due  largely  to  native  tendencies. 
In  arguing  such  a  question  as  direct  primaries,  for  ex- 
ample, we  need  to  consider  whether  the  majority  of  our 
audience  are  of  aristocratic  or  of  democratic  tendencies. 

The  case  is  somewhat  different  when  one  addresses  the 
same  people  in  a  series  of  speeches  covering  a  considerable 
time,  as  does  the  preacher.  But  for  the  most  part  a 
speaker  must  take  the  fixed  opinions  and  sentiments  of 
his  hearers  as  he  finds  them,  and  utilize  them  or  ignore 
them.  If  Boston  feels,  as  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  tells 
us,  that,  ''Boston  is  the  hub  of  the  solar  system.  You 
could*  not  pry  that  out  of  a  Boston  man  if  you  had  the 
tire  of  all  creation  straightened  out  for  a  crowbar, ' '  why, 
then,  when  you  are  talking  to  Boston,  admit  it  or  keep 
off  the  subject.  After  all,  men  of  widely  differing  prem- 
ises can  work  together  in  harmony.  Booker  T.  Washing- 
ton and  many  of  his  white  neighbors  could  agree  on  the 
advisability  of  industrial  education  for  negroes;  but  if 
Mr.  Washington  had  not  thoroughly  understood  his  white 
friends  and  if  he  had  emphasized  the  rights  which  he  no 
doubt  believed  were  his,  he  could  never  have  won  their 
support.  If  you  are  to  argue  for  or  against  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  with  men  who  have  the  fixed  opinion  that  our 
international  relations  are  to  be  determined  on  the  basis 
of  pure  self-interest,  then  there  is  no  use  in  arguing  the 
good  of  South  America ;  you  should  base  your  argument 
upon  the  interests  of  the  United  States.  Perhaps  you 
can  reach  your  altruistic  alignment  by  showing  that  the 
good  of  the  United  States  demands  the  good  of  South 
America. 

Identifying  beliefs.  To  convince  or  to  persuade  a  man 
is  largely  a  matter  of  identifying  the  opinion  or  course  of 
action  which  you  wish  him  to  adopt  ivith  one  or  more  of 
his  fixed  opinions  or  customary  courses  of  action,^.  When 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  277 


his  mind  is  satisfied  of  the  identity,  then  doubts  vanish, 
and  his  mind  rests  upon  your  proposal  with  equanimity. 
Speaking  of  arriving  at  a  reasoned  decision  after  a  strug- 
gle with  the  alternatives,  J ames  says :  ^ 

'*The  conclusive  reason  for  the  decision  in  these  cases 
usually  is  the  discovery  that  we  can  refer  the  case  to  a 
class  upon  which  we  are  accustomed  to  act  unhesitatingly 
in  a  certain  stereotyped  way.  It  may  be  said  in  general 
that  a  great  part  of  every  deliberation  consists  in  the 
turning  over  of  all  the  possible  modes  of  conceiving  of 
the  doing  or  not  doing  of  the  act  in  point.  The  moment 
we  hit  upon  a  conception  which  lets  us  apply  some  prin- 
ciple of  action  which  is  a  fixed  and  stable  part  of  our 
Ego,  our  state  of  doubt  is  at  an  end.  Persons  of  author- 
ity, who  have  to  make  many  decisions  in  a  day,  carry 
with  them  a  set  of  heads  of  classification,  each  bearing 
its  volitional  consequence,  and  under  these  they  seek  as 
far  as  possible  to  arrange  each  new  emergency  as  it  oc- 
curs. It  is  where  the  species  is  without  precedent,  to 
which  consequently  no  cut  and  dried  maxim  will  apply, 
that  we  feel  at  a  loss,  and  are  distressed  at  the  indetermi- 
nateness  of  our  task.  As  soon,  however,  as  we  see  our 
way  to  a  familiar  classification,  we  are  at  ease  again. 
In  action  as  in  reasoning^  then,  the  great  thing  is  the 
quest  of  the  right  conception/' 

When  a  manager  discharges  an  employee,  his  process  may  be  like 
this :  Jones  is  careless  in  his  work.  I  discharge  men  who  are 
careless ;  therefore,  I  will  discharge  Jones.  ^  That  is,  when  Jones 
comes  under  the  classification.  Careless  men,  the  decision  to  dis- 
charge is  almost  automatic ;  unless  Jones  chances  to  come  under  some 
other  classification,  such  as  men  whose  family  would  suffer,  or  men 
whom  the  president  favors. 

Plainly,  then,  in  convincing  and  persuading,  the 
speaker  should  seek  to  show  that  the  belief  or  action  urged 
is  in  accord  with  some  conception  or  ' '  principle  of  action 
which  is  a  fixed  and  stable  part  of  our  [hearer's]  Ego": 


1  Briefer  Course,  p.  430, 


278 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


or  more  nearly  in  accord  with  such  a  principle  than  is 
contrary  course.    When  one  convinces  a  Democrat  ^ 
the  measure  urged  is  in  line  with  Democratic  prac 
or  the  opponents  of  militarism  that  military  drill  ir 
universities  is  one  means  of  making  it  safe  to  get  on  with 
a  small  standing  army,  one  is  carrying  out  the  suggestion 
of  the  above  paragraph.    A  syllogism  is  only  a  formal 
way  of  putting  an  identification. 

The  following  from  Bain  is  directly  in  point  and  worth  pon- 
dering :  1 

''Persuasion  implies  that  some  coilrse  of  conduct  shall  be  so 
described,  or  expressed,  as  to  coincide,  or  be  identified,  with  the 
active  impulses  of  the  persons  addressed,  and  thereby  command 
their  adoi>tion  of  it  by  the  force  of  their  own  natural  dispositions. 
A  leader  of  banditti  has  to  deal  with  a  class  of  persons  whose  ^ 
ruling  impulse  is  plunder ;  and  it  becomes  his  business  to  show 
that  any  scheme  of  his  proposing  will  lead  to  this  end.  A  people 
with  an  intense,  overpowering  patriotism,  as  the  old  Romans,  can 
be  acted  upon  by  proving  that  the  interests  of  the  country  are  at 
stake.  The  fertile  oratorical  mind  is  one  that  can  identify  a  case 
in  hand  with  a  great  number  of  the  strongest  beliefs  of  an  audi- 
ence ;  and  more  especially  with  those  that  seem,  at  first  sight,  to 
have  no  connection  with  the  point  to  be  carried.  The  discovery  of 
identity  in  diversity  is  never  more  called  for,  than  in  attempts  to 
mq»ve  men  to  adopt  some  unwonted  course  of  proceeding.  When 
'a  new  reform  is  introduced  in  the  state,  it  is  usually  thought  neces- 
sary (at  least  in  England)  to  reconcile  and  identify  it  in  many 
ways  with  the  venerated  Constitution,  or  with  prevailing  maxims 
and  modes  of  feeling,  with  which  it  would  seem  at  "variance.  To 
be  a  persuasive  speaker,  it  is  necessary  to  have  vividly  present  to 
the  view  all  the  leading  impulses  and  convictions  of  the  persons 
addressed,  and  to  be  ready  to  catch  at  every  point  of  identity  be- 
cwc ;  n  these  and  the  proposition  suggested  for  their  adoption.  The 
first  named  qualification  grows  out  of  the  experience,  and  study  of 
character ;  the  other  is  the  natural  force  of  Similarity,  which  has 
often  been  exemplified  ^n  its  highest  range  in  oratorical  minds.  ^  In 
the  speeches  of  Burke,  we  see  it  working  with  remarkable  vigor. 
Perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  of  this  fertility  of  identification 
for  persuasive  ends  is  exhibited  in  Milton's  Defense  of  Unlicensed 
Printing.'* 

Questions  to  consider:  What  is  the  relation  of  the  foregoing  to 
what  was  said  in  earlier  chapters  about  novelty?  What  would  you 
say  of  the  force  of  novelty  in  persuasion?  What  is  the  relation  of 
identification  to  the  attention  theory  of  persuasion? 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  thoughtful  that  we  are  not  so  m^"^'-  ng 
forward  a  new  principle  in«discussing  ident   •  .»        as         '  he 

1  Senses  and  Intellect,  p.  r>42, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


279 


advantage  of  another  way  of  looking  at  what  we  have  discussed 
under  the  head  of  common  ground  and  the  topics  which  follow. 

Conservative  or  radical.  Nothing  is  more  important  in 
considering  the  tendencies  of  an  audience  with  reference 
to  persuasion,  than  their  relative  conservatism  and  radi- 
calism. Will  they  take  kindly  to  new  proposals,  or  stand 
firmly  for  the  ''old  landmarks"? 

It  will  be  convenient  to  discuss  this  topic  from  the  standpoint  of 
one  seeking  to  move  his  hearers  from  a  conservative  position.  Any 
intelligent  student  should  be  able  to  adapt  this  discussion  to  the 
reverse  process,  and  will  find  this  an  interesting  study.  Teachers 
may  find  it  advantageous  to  base  quiz  and  examination  questions 
upon  the  means  of  checking  movements  that  chance  to  be  before 
/  the  country. 

%  There  is  no  intention  of  implying  at  any  point  that  conservatism 
is  unwise ;  indeed,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  be  controlled  by 
conservatives,  and  fortunate  that  they  are  usually  in  the  majority. 
It  is  also  fortunate  that  there  are  others  who  would  push  on  and 
dare  experiments.  It  is  the  speaker's  business  to  know  what  kind 
of  people  he  is  dealing  with.  He  may  be  aided  by  certain  general 
considerations. 

\i  Conservatism  characteristic  of  the  English-speaking 

peoples.  It  is  not  the  way  of  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxons 
to  change  their  institutions  in  a  wholesale  way.  We  are 
told  that  in  contrast  the  Latin  peoples,  having  adopted 
a  belief,  wish  to  work  it  out  at  once  into  a  consistent 
system.  So  Lavisse  speaks^  of  England  as  *'a  country 
of  slow  continuous  transformations,  in  which  the  present 
is  not  separated  from  the  past  by  visible  lines  of  demarca- 
tion." But  in  speaking  of  the  Fi'cnch  Revolution,  he 
says,  that,  *'when  owing  to  the  faults  of  its  kings,  the 
country  detached  itself  from  royalty,  it  raised  itself 
at  once  to  the  idea  of  humanity." 

The  change  in  England  from  an  almost  absolute  mon- 
archy to  one  of  the  freest  of  governments  has  been 


1  Political  History  of  Europe^  p.  141. 


280 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


brought  about  piecemeal  and  by  a  series  of  compromises. 
Very  rarely  do  we  Americans  change  our  Constitution. 
We  wait  for  the  slow  process  of  judicial  construction. 
And  when  we  do  change  we  like  to  think  we  are  only 
following  in  the  path  marked  out  by  the  fathers.  We 
assume  that  the  founders  of  our  government,  who  lacked 
national  experience,  who  dealt  with  a  situation  vastly 
different  from  our  own,  and  who  ascribed  little  enough 
wisdom  to  each  other,  yet  somehow  had  a  marvelous  fore- 
sight for  the  problems  of  to-day.  In  the  Cooper  Union 
speech  Lincoln  did  not  question  the  declaration  that  the 
fathers  understood  the  slavery  question  better  than  the 
men  of  the  '50 's,  but  showed  that  the  fathers  agreed  with 
the  Republicans  rather  than  with  the  Douglas  Demo- 
crats. 

(a  speaker  must  reckon  with  the  strongly  conservative 
tendency  of  our  peopled  He  must  not  expect  to  win  favor 
for  revolutionary  chaffge;  and  must  be  content  in  most 
cases  with  the  half  loaf.  They  will  prefer  to  tinker  up 
the  old  rather  than  to  adopt  a  completely  new  system. 
And  this  was  just  as  true  in  the  year  1912,  when  nearly 
every  man  asserted  that  he  was  progressive  and  some 
trembled  because  of  the  revolutionary  changes  they  saw 
rushing  upon  us,  as  at  any  time.  The  young  speaker, 
full  of  enthusiasm  for  new  cures  and  reforms,  will  do 
well  to  note  this  tendency  to  make  haste  slowly;  for  it 
furnishes  a  mighty  fulcrum  for  his  opponent.  Just  a 
sneer  at  youthful  radicalism  may  defeat  him. 

The  enthusiast  who  disregards  human  nature  or  thinks  it  easily 
set  on  fire  for  new  causes  or  new  methods,  may  consider  the  follow- 
ing from  a  speech  by  Liberty  Hyde  Bailey,  delivered  while  he  was 
Director  of  the  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture,  and  he 
should  remember  that  the  attitude  ascribed  to  the  farmer  is  that 
of  the  majority  of  our  solid  followers  of  routine ;  that  is,  of  the  ma- 
jority of  men : 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  281 

"The  farmer  comes  in  contact  with  things  that  do  not  change  j 
vfiry  easily.  I  once  asked  a  farmer  why  he  did  not  blast  out  a  rock. 
Ife  said,  'It  has  always  been  there.'  After  a  two-days'  institute 
in  a  school  house,  I  was  interested  to  know  how  the  farmers  felt 
.'about  it,  whether  they  were  confused  by  the  multitude  of  matters 
presented.  I  chanced  to  overhear  two  men  speaking.  One  said, 
'Well,  Henry,  what  do  you  think  of  it?'  and  Henry  replied,  *Let 
'em  go  it ;  they  can't  hurt  me  none.'  " 

Some  forces  against  change.  We  have  to  reckon  on 
certain  influences  in  opposition  to  change.  Those  whose 
incomes  may  suffer, will  oppose.^  Resistance  may  be  ex- 
pecte(3,  also,  from  those  who  represent  institutions  af- 
fected by  the  change,  whether  these  are  railways,  col- 
leges, or  churches,  unless  the  change  be  asked  for  by 
themselves.  Institutions  almost  invariably  grow  con- 
servative: even  a  socialist  party  obeys  the  tendency. 
Those  who  exercise  authority,  from  emperors  and  senates 
to  athletic  councils  and  committees  of  college  faculties, 
favor  change  only  in  the  direction  of  placing  more  power 
in  their  own  hands.  Desiring  efficiency,  and  perhaps  un- 
consciously desiring  power,  they  dislike  all  change  in  the 
direction  of  democracy.  Moreover,  there  is  a  strong 
tendency  to  resist  changes  that  affect  one's  routiue  and 
habits;  for  change  compels  one  to  take  thought.  A 
manufacturer  of  much  experience  with  workingmen  tells 
me  that  they  will  resist  changes  of  method  which  actu- 
ally lighten  their  labor  and  increase  their  safety. 

In  the  powerful  speech  made  by  Elihu  Root  in  the  New  York  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  on  August  30,  1915,  in  favor  of  the  ''short 
ballot,"  he  dwelt  upon  the  many  evidences  of  popular  demand  for 
the  measure,  in  spite  of  which  certain  office  holders  were  sure  the 
people  were  opposed.    He  continued  : 

"My  friend,  Mr.  Brackett,  sees  nothing  wrong  about  [the  govern- 
ment of  the  State ]^  He  has  been  fifteen  years  in  the  Senate.  .  .  . 
Why  should  he  see  anything  wrong?  My  friend.  Mr.  Greene,  is 
comfortably  settled  in  the^  Excise  Department,  and  he  sees  nothing 
wrong. 

"There  never  was  a  refom  in  administration  in  this  world  which 

1  See,  below*  the  quotation  from  Bryce,  under  "Respect  for  Audi- 
ences " 


282  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

did  not  have  to  make  its  way  against  the  strong  feeling  c 
honest  men,  concerned  in  existing  methods  of  administratic 
who  saw  nothing  wrong.    It  is  no  impeachment  of  a  man 
esty,  his  integrity,  that  he  thinks  the  methods  that  he  is  fa 
with  and  in  which  he  is  engaged,  are  ail  right.    But  you  c. 
make  any  improvement  in  this  world  without  overriding  t])e  !t 
faction  that  men  have  in  things  as  they  are,  and  of  which  they 
a  contented  and  successful  part." 

Crowds  are  conservative.  We  here  take  the  ter 
crowds  broadly,  not  limiting  it  merely  to  bodies  of  peopl 
together  at  one  spot,  but  including  homogeneous  com- 
munities, states,  or  peoples.  This  is  the  sense  in  which 
Le  Bon  uses  the  word.  We  are  prepared  by  what  he 
says  of  the  slowness  of  crowds  in  receiving  new  ideas, 
for  this  statement.^ 

*'It  is  difficult  to  understand  history,  and  popular 
revolutions  in  particular,  if  one  does  not  take  into  ac- 
count the  profoundly  conservative  instincts  of  crowds. 
They  may  be  desirous,  it  is  true,  of  changing  the  names 
of  their  institutions,  .  .  .  but  the  essence  of  these  insti- 
tutions is  too  much  the  expression  of  the  hereditary  needs 
of  the  race  for  them  not  invariably  to  abide  by  it. ' ' 

Such  groups  as  student  bodies  are  conservative.  There 
is  a  *'vast  inertia''  in  the  mass  of  men  who  make  up  the 
electorate  of  a  state.  They  must  always  be  behind  the 
thinkers  of  the  age.  A  leader,  we  have  been  told  by 
George  William  Curtis,  ^^must  not  be  too  far  ahead  of 
his  age ;  but  up  with  his  age  and  ahead  of  it  only  just  so 
far  as  to  be  able  to  lead  its  march."  It  is  a  truism,  well 
expressed  in  Lowell's  Present  Crisis,  that  humanity  has 
often  crucified  and  burned  those  too  far  in  the  lead,  and 
then  has  built  monuments  to  them  when  the  race  has 
caught  up. 

But  we  should  not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  masses 
do  move  forward,  and  that  it  may  be  splendidly  worth 

1  The  Crowd,  p.  42. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


283 


while  to  take  a  position  far  in  advance ;  or,  dropping  the 
figure,  to  work  for  clianges  that  may  be  expected  only 
in  the  distant  future.  The  fact  that  the  mass  of  men 
change  but  slowly  makes  prolonged  agitation  necessary. 
Wendell  Phillips  spoke  out  of  experience  when  he  said 
in  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  address : 

''As  Emerson  says,  'What  the  tender  and  poetic  youth 
dreams  to-day,  and  conjures  up  in  inarticulate  speech, 
is  to-morrow  the  vociferated  result  of  public  opinion, 
and  the  day  after  is  the  charter  of  nations.'  Lieber  said, 
in  1870,  'Bismarck  proclaims  to-day  in  the  Diet  the  very 
principles  for  which  we  were  hunted  and  exiled  fifty  years 
ago.'  Submit  to  risk  your  daily  bread,  expect  social 
ostracism,  count  on  a  mob  now  and  then,  'be  in  earnest, 
don't  equivocate,  don't  excuse,  don't  retreat  a  single 
inch,'  and  you  will  finally  be  heard.  No  matter  how 
long  and  weary  the  waiting,  at  last, — 

"  *Ever  the  truth  comes  uppermost, 
And  ever  is  justice  done. 
For  humanity  sweeps  onward : 

Where  to-day  the  martyr  stands, 
On  the  morrow  crouches  Judas 
With  the  silver  in  his  hands.'  " 

Not  all  attempts  at  reform  arouse  mob  violence,  but  all 
do  provoke  some  degree  of  resistance  and  resentment. 
The  main  point  for  us  here  is  that  a  very  great  degree  of 
change  cannot  be  hoped  for  at  once,  that  radical  change 
demands  a  campaign,  which  may  require  months  and  may 
run  into  many  years.  After  the  campaign  for  civil  serv- 
ice reform  had  been  on  for  twenty  years,  a  stump  speaker 
could  safely  refer  to  it  as  "snivel  service  reform." 
Woman's  suffrage  was  an  organized  movement  in  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century,  and  prohibition  in  the  seventies ; 
yet  until  within  five  years  in  most  parts  of  the  country 
they  have  been  freely  ridiculed.  Many  a  reform  must 
wait  for  a  new  generation  to  arise. 


284 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Further  considerations  in  judging  conservatism.  The 

speaker  may  well  ask  himself,  Is  this  audience  accus- 
tomed to  considering  new  ideas,  and  therefore  less  dis- 
trustful of  them,  simply  because  they  are  new  ?  Are  my 
hearers  property  owners,  with  established  businesses,  and 
therefore  interested  in  preserving  the  status  quo?  Is 
my  audience  composed  of  elderly  people,  who  have  lived 
long  enough  to  see  many  panaceas  fail,  and  have,  there- 
fore, grown  weary  of  new  proposals  ?  It  would  be  rash, 
however,  to  suppose  that  all  old  men  are  conservative  and 
all  young  men  radical.  A  young  conservative  is  fiercer 
in  his  fighting  for  the  old  way  than  an  old  conservative, 
who  is  less  alarmed  about  the  probability  of  change. 
But  no  doubt,  in  general,  age  increases  hesitancy  to  take 
up  new  ideas  and  ways,  and  decreases  ability  to  do  so. 

An  economist  of  reputation,  about  forty  years  of  age,  tells  me  that 
as  a  student  he  was  strongly  conservative,  but  finds  himself  growing 
more  radical  every  year.  He  declares  that  economists  as  a  group 
are  radical.  He  quotes  a  distinguished  economist  past  middle  life 
who  declares  he  is  growing  radical  year  by  year,  but  finds  historians 
still  more  radical.  These  men,  students  of  the  past  as  well  as  of  the 
present,  realize  that  history  is  not  static,  but  a  process  of  change 
and  evolution.  They  are  not  like  a  freshman  who,  finding  a  custom, 
established  last  year,  in  vogue  in  his  college,  thinks  it  a  hoary  tradi- 
tion. They  realize  well  that  the  impossibilities  of  fifty  years  ago  are 
the  commonplaces  of  to-day,  and  they  are  not  unduly  awed  by  the 
wisdom  of  the  past.  Their  minds  are  therefore  open  to  proposed 
improvements,  though  they  demand  good  evidence.  One  such  man 
has  described  himself  as  a  "conservative  radical."  Lawyers  and 
ecclesiastics,  on  the  contrary,  trained  to  accept  the  authority  of  the 
past,  are  likely  to  be  conservative.  The  principles  illustrated  in  this 
paragraph  should  prove  suggestive  to  the  speaker  in  "sizing  up"  a 
situation. 

The  newer  parts  of  the  country  may  be  expected,  in 
general,  to  be  less  influenced  by  conventional  ideas,  cus- 
toms and  precedents.  In  New  England  and  in  the  South 
are  more  of  those  influential  families  whose  pride  is  in 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


285 


the  past  and  who  hold  that  the  •  act  that  things  have  been 
so  is  an  excellent  reason  why  they  should  remain  so. 

A  magazine  story  describes  a  mental  state  that  cannot  safely  be 
ignored  in  many  quiet  old  towns,  where  the  innovator  will  be 
calmly  pushed  aside :  Miss  Winifred  Atwood's  bird  bath,  an  artistic 
antique  bit  of  Florentine  marble,  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  new  golf 
links,  and  in  danger.  But 

^'before  the  golf  club  was  started  there  was  no  need  of  a  fence  be- 
tween their  house  and  that  portion  rented  from  them.  Afterward 
no  fence  was  erected,  because  there  had  never  been  a  fence  there — 
which  is  always  an  unanswerable  argument  in  our  town." 

And  it  will  be  found  just  as  unanswerable  in  opposition  to  fences 
proposed  against  moral  or  other  dangers  in  that  town. 

But  one  must  not  reckon  too  much  on  sectional  charac- 
teristics, except  with  reference  to  particular  questions. 
While  the  West  seems  to  be  particularly  friendly  to  po- 
litical innovations,  it  is  far  more  orthodox  in  religion 
than  New  England.  Much  depends  in  any  section,  also, 
upon  the  quality  of  its  leadership.  New  Jersey  under 
the  leadership  of  Governor  Wilson  seemed  a  very  differ- 
ent State  from  the  New  Jersey  of  two  years  before. 

Conservative  or  radical  concerning  the  particular  prop- 
osition ?  Men  may  be  conservative  toward  some  proposi- 
tions and  liberal  toward  others.  Is  your  audience  well 
accustomed  to  hearing  discussions  of  municipal  reform, 
or  will  your  plan  for  a  stringent  building  code  seem  a 
startling  innovation?  Are  commission  government  and 
short  ballots  quite  foreign  to  their  experience,  or  are 
these  systems  in  force  in  neighboring  communities  ?  Are 
you  to  address  a  body  of  reformers,  or  a  body  composed 
of  those  inclined  to  think  the  effect  of  a  measure  upon 
profits  more  important  than  its  effect  upon  tenement 
dwellers?  Are  you  arguing  for  strict  enforcement  of 
liquor  laws  before  a  body  whose  creed  is,  ''Business  is 
business,"  and  are  fearful  that  a  ''dry"  town  means  a 
falling  off  in  trade?    Is  the  body  before  whom  you  are 


^86  PUBL  iiAKING 

urging  a  county  tube?  i'tt'o  hospital  composed  chiefly 
of  tax-payers?    If  so,  .otive  is  stronger  with  them 

than  low  taxes?    Ar  iiscussing  a  labor  problem 

before  socialists  or  men  who,  like  most  business  men  and 
farmers,  resent  interference  with  the  individual 's  conduct 
of  his  own  affairs  ?  Are  you  discussing  the  Indian  ques- 
tion before  Eastern  people  who  are  impressed  with  the 
wrongs  of  the  * '  noble  red  man, ' '  or  before  Western  peo- 
ple who  incline  to  the  view  that  *^the  only  good  Indian  is 
a  dead  Indian"?  Are  you  trying  to  secure  acceptance 
for  the  results  of  modern  Biblical  criticism  from  an  audi- 
ence hostile  to  the  ^'higher  criticism,"  or  from  one  that 
likes  to  think  itself  advanced  ? 

Overcoming  conservatism.    Since  men  are  often  re- 
pelled by  new  ideas  simply  because  they  are  new,  and 
may  even  have  a  fear  of  unfamiliar  courses,^  we  do  well 
I  toy mphasize  the  familiar  rather  than  the  unfamiliar  as- 
I  pect  of  our  proposal^  It  should  be  described  in  familiar 
/  terms,  illustrated  ^^ith  familiar  experiences,  identified 
/  with  familiar  actions  and  ideas,  and  supported  by  famil- 
!  iar  authorities  and  proverbs.    Stress  should  be  laid  upon 
the  common  ground.    Since  men  are  much  under  the  in- 
fluence of  names,  conventions  and  forms  of  institutions, 
we  should  not  ask  for  changes  in  these  beyond  what  is 
necessary.    Augustus  changed  the  government  of  Rome 
into  a  monarchy,  but  preserved  so  far  as  possible  the 
forms  of  the  old  Republic.    The  same  officials  and  official 
bodies  remained,  but  with  different  powers.    So  long  as 
the  Senate  met  and  styles  in  togas  were  unchanged,  there 
were  many  unable  to  see  how  the  liberties  of  Rome  were 
passing.    Very  important,  also,  in  overcoming  reluc- 
tance to  change,  is  giving  one^s  hearers  a  vivid  imagina- 
tive conception  of  the  methods  and  situation  one  proposes 
1  Cf.  McDougall,  Social  Psychology,  p.  54, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  287 


to  bring  about ;  for  this  aids  in  removing  the  feeling  of 
unfamiliarity. 

"We  have  already  noted  the  truth  that  we  should  not 
expect  men  to  change  their  opinions  rapidly.  We  must 
give  time  and  opportunity  to  grow  accustomed  to  a  new 
proposition,  for  the  natural  distrust  to  wear  away  and 
for  the  ideas  to  be  assimilated.  Benjamin  Franklin,  a 
master  molder  of  public  opinion,  used  to  begin,  not  by 
calling  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  and  ask- 
ing them  to  accept  his  proposal  at  once,  but  by  accustom- 
ing the  public  mind  to  his  plans  by  prolonged  newspaper 
discussion  before  calling  his  meeting.  Making  ideas 
familiar  by  repetition  is  highly  important  to  the  art  of 
publicity."  Advertisers  have  a  maxim,  Repetition 
is  reputation.''  And,  as  Mr.  Dooley  says,  ^^I  11  belave 
anything  at  all,  if  you  '11  only  tell  it  to  me  often 
enough." 

It  is  sometimes  wise  to  begin  with  mild  suggestions  and 
gradually  develop  them ;  again,  one  may  do  better  to  set 
forth  the  proposal  in  its  most  startling  form,  and  then, 
when  excited  opposition  has  grown  up,  to  relieve  anxiety 
by  showing  various  modifications  and  limitations  which 
make  the  proposal  less  radical  than  it  seemed.  One 
might  guess  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  not  a  stranger  to  this 
method.  It  is  a  good  way  of  winning  attention ;  but  it 
may  cause  misunderstanding  and  misrepresentations, 
which,  when  emphasized  by  opponents,  are  hard  to  eradi- 
cate from  the  popular  mind.  The  method  may  also  gain 
for  one  the  reputation  of  being  ''unsafe." 

Which  is  the  better  salesmauship :  To  advertise  a  car  for  $950, 
and  then  add  extras  bringing  the  price  for  a  well  fitted  car  up  to 
$1200 ;  or  to  fix  the  price  at  $1400  and  then  show  how  this  might  be 
cut  down  to  $1200  by  omitting  certain  features?  Which  is  the  bet- 
ter politics :  To  demand  a  sweeping  tariff  reduction  and  accept 
a  moderate  measure ;  or  to  ask  for  a  little  and  work  for  more  when 


288 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


the  public  is  accustomed  to  the  idea ;  or  to  demand  precisely  what 
you  want  and  stand  by  the  demand? 

4 

The  power  of  facts.  We  should  never  forget,  in  this 
connection  or  any  other,  the  power  of  plain  facts.  One 
hard  fact,  so  presented  that  it  is  seen  to  be  important, 
may  outweigh  all  logic  and  all  rhetoric.  The  facts  should 
be  so  presented  that  they  do  not  unnecessarily  antagonize 
by  convicting  the  audience  of  ignorance.  The  facts  may 
show  that  the  situation  upon  which  the  audience  has 
based  its  opinion  has  radically  changed ;  as  when  one,  in 
arguing  for  restriction  of  immigration,  shows  that  the 
character  of  our  immigration  has  changed.  Or  a  new 
statement  of  familiar  facts  may,  by  its  imposing  array, 
break  down  opposition.  So  the  advocate  of  ^S^otes  for 
women''  places  before  her  opposing  sisters  instance  after 
instance  of  the  unfairness  of  man-made  laws. 

Speakers  are  tempted  to  present  doubtful  facts,  or 
fskts  which  only  the  most  partizan  mind  can  accept;  as 
when  a  prohibition  speaker  attempts  to  declare  pre- 
cisely how  many  children  have  died  and  how  many  men 
have  become  criminals  because  of  strong  drink.  Such 
statements  may  deceive  the  uncritical,  but  not  the 
thoughtful.  The  power  of  facts  to  overcome  doubt,  op- 
position and  conservatism  rests  upon  their  acceptance  as 
beyond  question. 

Precedent.  The  conservatives  are  much  influenced  by 
the  fact  that  the  same  thing,  or  nearly  the  same  thing, 
has  been  done  before,  that  what  may  have  seemed  a 
radical  change  is  after  all  proved  by  experience.  To 
most  Americans  the  proposition  that  our  courts  should 
be  deprived  of  the  jjower  to  declare  legislation  unconsti- 
tutional is  startling;  but  at  least  a  hearing  can  be  won 
by  pointing  out  that  in  most  of  the  countries  of  the 
world,  this  power  is  not  given  to  the  courts.    Where  you 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  289 


will  find  one  to  welcome  a  plan  because  it  is  untried,  and 
therefore  an  attractive  venture,  you  v^ill  find  twenty,  and 
those  twenty  of  the  influential,  ^^safe  and  sane,''  mem- 
bers of  the  audience,  who  are  uneasy  and  inattentive  until 
they  learn  that  the  method  has  been  in  successful  opera- 
tion in  some  community.  The  character  of  that  commu- 
nity counts  for  much.  If  it  is  similar  to  our  own,  as 
another  American  state  of  equal  rank,  the  precedent  will 
be  effective.  The  average  man  is  much  less  influenced 
by  the  fact  that  New  Zealand  has  an  old  age  pension  • 
system  than  that  England  and  Germany  have  such  sys- 
tems.  Prestige  counts.  The  thoughtful  man  will  also  de- 
mand that  conditions  in  any  community  cited  as  a  prec- 
edent be  similar  to  those  in  his  own  community,  as  af- 
fecting the  matter  in  hand. 

It  is  most  effective  to  show  that  we  ourselves  have  been 
doing  all  the  time  practically  what  is  proposed,  or  did 
so  at  one  time.  The  advocates  of  the  popular  review 
of  judicial  decisions, ' '  tried  to  relieve  the  burden  of  radi- 
cal change  by  arguing  that  this  is  only  another  way 
of  amending  constitutions.  Socialistic  propaganda  is 
much  aided,  and  the  term  socialism  is  gradually  be- 
ing relieved  of  its  opprobrium,  as  we  come  to  realize 
that  our  schools,  post-offices  and  hospitals  are  socialistic. 
Municipal  ownership  of  street  railways  is  not  so  shock- 
ing when  we  consider  our  city-owned  water  and  lighting 
systems;  and  we  view  government  regulation  of  corpo- 
rate industries  with  less  alarm  as  we  think  of  the  work 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

Precedent  may  be  connected  with  the  motive  of  emu- 
lation, when  we  recite  how  another  person,  town  or  coun- 
try is  in  advance  of  us.  A  suffrage  advocate  declares: 
*'We  are  behind  Norway,  Sweden,  Austria,  China,  lee- 
land.    In  fact,  women  in  every  other  country  of  the 


290  P  SPEAKING 

globe  have  more  i  power  than  do  those  of  our 

own  Empire  State."  One  feels  that  this  is  a  very  im- 
portant statement,  very  humiliating,  if  true. 

This  reminds  us  that  citing  precedent  is  a  method  of 
argument  much  open  to  rebuttal,  not  only  on  the  ground 

\  of  failure  to  show  similarity  of  conditions,  but  of  failure 
to  state  true  facts.  Even  the  honest  speaker  is  pecul- 
iarly tempted  to  misstate  facts  in  such  sweeping  generali- 
zations as  that  just  quoted.    The  dishonest  speaker  finds 

'  precedent  an  effective  means  of  deception.  Just  as  pro- 
moters of  dubious  companies  tell  glowing  stories  of  the 
great  profits  of  similar  companies  and  of  gold  mines 
right  beside  the  promoters'  properties;  so  one  argu- 
ing for  a  minimum  wage  law  cites  the  examples  of  Aus- 
tralia and  England.  But  an  opponent  points  out  that 
industrial  conditions  in  those  countries  make  the  prece- 
dents invalid,  or  that  the  law  advocated  differs  materially 
from  those  cited.  It  is  worth  the  while  of  any  speaker  to 
study  the  methods  of  refuting  the  fallacies  arising  from 
precedent  and  analogy,  and  these  will  be  found  well 
treated  in  texts  on  argumentation. 

Precedent,  prestige  and  authority  may  operate  as  suggestions 
which  influence  us  without  deliberation  on  our  part.  I  am  speak- 
ing of  them  here  as  they  are  consciously  taken  into  account ;  e.g.. 
Germany,  a  country  which  has  carried  governmental  efliciency  to  a 
high  point,  has  adopted  old  age  pensions ;  therefore  the  system  is 
worthy  consideration.  * 

The  sudden  growth  of  prohibition  sentiment  in  the  last  five  years 
would  make  an  interesting  study  in  persuasion.  I  believe  it  would 
be  found  that  these  elements  have  been  important :  First,  the  im- 
pression made  upon  children  in  the  schools  by  the  teaching  of  the 
evils  of  alcohol, — children  who  are  now  coming  into  power ;  second, 
the  establishing  of  certain  scientific  facts  in  regard  to  drink ;  and 
third,  action  on  the  part  of  great  corporations  with  regard  to  the 
habits  of  their  employees,  and  the  measures  of  European  govern- 
ments since  the  war  began.  With  every  gain  in  "dry"  territory  in 
the  United  States,  also,  the  average  man,  who  not  long  ago  laughed 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


291 


at  the  movement  and  perhaps  drinks  a  bit  himself,  grows  more  im- 
pressed and  more  ready  to  give  the  matter  serious  attention.  That 
is,  we  have  to  consider  the  element  of  time,  of  facts,  and  of  prestige. 

Authority.  In  our  conservative  phase,  we  are  much 
relieved  by  learning  that  a  given  proposal  has  the  in- 
dorsement of  those  whom  we  respect  as  authorities. 
Who  is  there  among  us  who  does  not  accept  some  book  or 
some  man,  father,  teacher,  preacher  or  specialist,  as  au- 
thority almost  beyond  question,  if  not  upon  all  subjects, 
at  least  upon  some?  Most  of  our  opinions  are  based 
upon  little  else  than  authority,  though  we  may  have  for- 
gotten what  authority.  Men  will  have  authority  in  one 
form  or  another.  Those  of  scientific  habit  of  thought 
are  less  under  the  influence  of  authority  than  others; 
but  no  man  can  prove  all  things."  Many  things  we 
must  accept  from  those  whose  business  it  is  to  know. 
Many  of  our  facts  we  must  receive  and  give  out  on 
authority.  We  should  be  chary  of  accepting  mere 
opinions,  but  must  in  practice  accept  them  at  times ;  and 
we  often  have  to  accept  conclusions  which  are  com- 
pounded of  observed  facts  and  skilful  deduction,  as 
when  a  statistician  works  out  from  census  statistics  con- 
clusions concerning  the  divorce  problem. 

The  use  of  authorities  is  more  a  matter  of  persuasion  than  of 
logic;  and  since  authorities  are  rarely  well  used  by  young  speakers, 
I  shall  treat  the  topic  at  some  length.  Those  who  wish  to  pursue 
the  psychological  phase  of  this  subject  will  find  discussions  in  Mc- 
Dougall's  Social  Psychology  and  Ross's  work  of  the  same  title. 
(See  their  indexes  under  Prestige.)  They  treat  the  subject,  how- 
ever, as  a  matter  of  suggestion. 

Persuasive  use  of  authorities.  The  primary  requisite 
is,  of  course,  that  your  authority  be  accepted  as  such  by 
your  audience.  There  is  some  effect  from  the  quotation 
of  even  an  unknown  man's  opinion.  At  least  one  other 
man  has  believed  as  the  speaker  believes.    If  the  opinion 


292 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


comes  with  a  touch  of  literary  style,  its  value  is  increased. 
It  is  told  that  DeWitt  Talmage,  whose  sermons  were 
printed  weekly  in  papers  throughout  the  country  for 
many  years,  directed  his  assistants  to  look  up  each  week 
two  or  three  pat  literary  quotations  to  enforce  the  central 
thought  of  his  sermon.  We  have  an  habitual  deference 
toward  quoted  authorities,  especially  when  they  are  cited 
from,  print.  I  once  knew  a  woman  who  believed  all  she 
read  in  newspapers.  Few  more  intelligent  people  com- 
pletely outgrow  the  superstitious  awe  of  book  covers.  To 
be  of  full  effect,  however,  and  to  withstand  the  attacks  of 
opponents,  your  authorities  should  meet  certain  tests, 
though  it  will  be  clear  that  not  every  authority  used  need 
meet  all  the  tests  that  follow.  Too  many  speakers 
simply  hurl  a  name  or  quotation  at  an  audience,  regard- 
less of  value  or  of  pertinence. 

.1.  Is  your  authority  known  to  th<3 ..audience?  In  a 
debate  on  woman's  suffrage  both  sides  quoted  repeatedly 
from  this  and  that  person  regarding  Colorado's  experi- 
ence ;  but  as  the  persons  named  were  unknown  to  us,  the 
quotations  were  of  little  effect.  Paraphrasing  the  old 
couplet.  If  your  authority  be  not  authority  to  me,  what 
care  I  how  authoritative  he  be?  The  names  of  Edison 
and  Burbank  will  go  further  with  general  audiences  than 
those  of  many  greater  scientists. 

2.  Is  your  authority  known  to  the  audience  as  author- 
ity on  the  question  under  argument?  The  opinions  of 
some  men  will  be  of  weight  upon  almost  any  problem. 
The  unthinking  will  accept  them  without  question ;  while 
the  thoughtful  will  hold  that  men  of  such  poise,  wisdom 
and  impartiality  will  not  be  likely  to  utter  an  opinion 
except  upon  good  ground.  Yet  we  must  recognize  that 
while  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  293 


States  is  a  weighty  authority  upon  a  question  of  law, 
upon  an  economic,  social,  or  political  question  his  judg- 
ment is  not  necessarily  of  importance. 

3.  What  is  the  emotional  attitude  of  your  audience 
toward  your  authority  ?  The  fact  that  a  man  is  of  a  cer- 
tain school  of  thought,  or  party,  or  church  may  create 
prejudice  against  him.  In  spite  of  his  wonderful  oppor- 
tunities for  observation,  there  are  audiences  who  would 
accept  Mr.  Roosevelt  as  authority  on  scarcely  any  ques- 
tion. 

4.  Does  your  authority,  though  lacking  popular  repu- 
tation, hold  a  position  which  gives  him  authority  in  the 
public  mind  ?  Walter  F.  Willcox  needs  no  introduction 
to  some  audiences  as  a  statistician  of  great  ability  and 
rare  impartiality;  other  audiences  would  accept  him 
when  told  that  he  was  chief  statistician  of  the  Twelfth 
Census.  Some  would  be  favorably  impressed  when  told 
that  he  is  Professor  of  Statistics  in  Cornell  University; 
while  others  would  reject  his  authority  on  the  ground 
that  all  professors  are  mere  theorists. 

5.  Has  your  authority  had  exceptional  advantages 
for  learning  the  truth  ?  In  the  debate  above  referred  to, 
some  weight  was  attached  to  statements  by  the  governors 
of  states  in  which  woman's  suffrage  has  been  tried.  Is 
the  physician  called  as  an  insanity  expert  one  who  has 
had  exceptional  experience,  as  in  an  insane  asylum? 
The  fact  that  a  man  is  a  lawyer,  an  engineer,  an  agri- 
culturist, does  not  make  him  authority  on  all  the  prob- 
lems of  his  profession.  What  special  advantages  has  he 
had?  If  you  wish  to  quote  an  authority  on  Chinese  af- 
fairs, it  is  worth  while  to  state  the  facts  which  give  him 
authority;  e.g.,  ''President  Goodnow  of  Johns  Hop- 
kins Universit3^,  wlio  has  been  legal  adviser  to  President 


294 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Yuan  Shi-Kai," — a  position  which  marks  him  as  a  man 
of  recognized  judgment  and  of  exceptional  opportunities 
for  observation. 

There  are  some  things  the  man  on  the  field  can  know 
better  than  any  student  of  the  event;  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  soldier  who  fought  at  Gettysburg,  or  even 
the  commander  of  a  brigade,  can  write  a  more  accurate 
description  than  a  historian  born  since  the  event.  It 
is  well  recognized  that  no  man  can  write  an  authoritative 
history  of  his  own  times ;  he  can  only  furnish  the  raw  ma- 
terial which  later  historians  can  use  in  forming  unbiased 
judgments.  Still  this  is  not  true  in  the  popular  mind, 
and  one  should  hesitate  to  quote,  let  us  say,  a  recent  his- 
torian against  General  Lee.  If  this  be  necessary,  one 
should  explain  the  historian's  advantages. 

6.  Is  your  .authority  sjenkir>g  gji^ jinhif|<^  judgfp^ent  ? 
If  he  speaks  as  a  partizan,  an  advocate,  or  from  self- 
interest  or  prejudice,  we  discount  his  utterance ;  for  we 
assume  that,  though  he  may  be  capable  and  honest,  he 
cannot  ^^see  straight,"  even  on  a  matter  of  pure  fact. 
Evidence  for  the  side  he  favors  looks  very  important  to 
him,  and  evidence  against  his  side  seems  unworthy  at- 
tention. Do  not  quote,  therefore,  the  opinion  of  a  ship- 
builder on  shipping  subsidies,  or  that  of  either  the  presi- 
dent of  a  temperance  union  or  the  owner  of  a  brewery  on 
prohibition.^ 

When  feasible,  quote  the  words  of  men  known  as  im- 
partial investigators.  Often  one  can  draw  from  govern- 
ment documents  and  other  standard  reports,  such  as  the 
Report  of  the  Industrial  Commi  ^^^^n,  census  reports,  or 
the  Statesman's  Yearbook.    Th  ks  will  generally 

be  accepted  as  to  facts,  not  n<  ly  as  to  opinions. 

There  are  other  works  that  hav  il  acceptance,  such 

1  Of.  Foster,  Argumentation  and  1  p.  G4. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


295 


as  Bryce's  American  Commonwealth,  which  will  be 
taken,  not  as  final,  but  as  weighty  authority,  containing 
the  observations  of  a  well-informed,  fair-minded,  keen 
and  sympathetic  foreign  observer. 

The  nature  of  the  question  at  issue  is  important. 
Any  reputable  scientist  or  historian  will  be  accepted  as  to 
established  facts,  but  not  necessarily  as  to  disputed  facts 
and  opinions.  Woodrow  Wilson  has  written  of  Macaulay 
as  an  historian :  ^ 

Macaulay  the  Whig,  subtly  turning  narrative  into 
argument,  and  making  history  the  vindication  of  a  party. 
The  mighty  narrative  is  a  great  engine  of  proof.  It  is 
not  told  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  evidence  summed  up  in 
order  to  justify  a  judgment.  We  detect  the  tone  of  the 
advocate,  and  though  if  we  are  just  we  must  deem  him 
honest,  we  cannot  deem  him  safe. ' ' 

Very  effective  at  times  is  a  statement  from  one  who 
naturally  inclines  to  the  opposition.  Mr.  Roosevelt  be- 
gan an  article  in  1912 :  ' '  The  Chicago  Evening  Post  and 
the  Indianapolis  Star  were  originally  Taft  papers. 
They  believed  that  the  voters  ought  to  choose  Mr.  Taft 
over  me  in  the  primaries."  He  then  proceeded  to  tell 
how  these  papers  charged  dishonesty  against  the  Repub- 
lican National  Committee  in  securing  his  defeat  in  the 
Republican  national  convention  of  that  year.  The  pre- 
sumption was  that  these  papers  had  made  these  charges 
only  upon  strong  evidence.  Reform  of  court  procedure 
would  not  be  much  advanced  by  citing  in  its  favor  men 
who  are  continually  finding  fault,  in  a  radical  spirit,  with 
whatever  is;  but  when  such  well-known  conservative 
lawyers  as  Ex-President  Taft,  Elihu  Root  and  Alton  B. 
Parker  unite  in  denouncing  the  present  procedure,  we 
feel  that  there  must  be  great  justification. 

1  Mere  Literature  and  Other  Essays,  p.  168. 


296 


PUBL  AKING 


7.  Has  the  authority  .  given  credence  by  oppo« 
nents?  This  is  not  meant  co  imply  that  any  authority 
used  by  an  opponent  must  thereafter  be  accepted  by 
them;  but  if  they  have  put  much  stress  upon  an  au- 
thority, they  at  least  have  difficulty  in  rejecting  him, 
when  cited  by  others.  In  the  Cooper  Union  speech 
Lincoln  made  good  use  of  Douglas's  authority. 

8.  When  and  where  did  your  authority  express  him- 
self? At  what  period  of  his  life?  Before  or  after  in- 
vestigation and  experience?  Woodrow  Wilson  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey  begged  leave  to  withdraw  the  opin- 
ion of  Woodrow  Wilson  the  Princeton  scholar,  upon  direct 
primaries.  Was  the  scientist  you  quote  expressing  a  de- 
liberate judgment,  or  giving  rein  to  his  fancy,  or  speak- 
ing facetiously,  as  Dr.  Osier  spoke  when  he  caused  so 
much  mistaken  agitation  by  declaring  that  men  should 
be  chloroformed  at  sixty?  Was  the  statement  made  in 
a  political  campaign,  or  after  the  dust  had  settled  ?  In 
the  midst  of  conflict,  or  with  historical  perspective? 
Usually  the  deliberately  made  statement  has  the  greater 
weight;  but  in  some  instances  greater  significance  at- 
taches to  statements  made  before  time  for  forgetfulness 
or  deliberate  falsification  has  elapsed. 

9.  In  what  manner  did  the  alleged  authority  express 
himself  ?  In  a  speech  ?  If  so,  formal  or  informal  ?  In 
a  newspaper  article  or  interview  ?  In  a  carefully  edited 
review?  Or  in  a  serious  volume?  Book  covers  do  not 
change  lies  into  truth,  or  fallacies  into  logic ;  but  we  are 
certainly  the  more  impressed  by  a  statement  the  more 
careful  its  preparation  and  the  more  permanent  its  form. 

10.  ^*'Is  too  great  reliance  placed  on  one  authority? 
Writers  and  speakers  seldom  address  a  group  of  people 

1  Foster's  Argumentation  and  Dehatingy  p.  67. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  29? 


who  are  willing  to  accept  the  testimony  of  any  one  man 
as  final.  .  .  .  The  concurrent  testimony  of  two  or  more 
authoricies  to  the  same  essentials,  where  there  has  been 
apparently  no  opportunity  or  motive  for  previo:as  agree- 
ment, strengthens  the  probability  of  truth.  .  .  .  An  ex- 
ample may  be  taken  from  an  address  by  Dr.  Dudley  A. 
Sargent  before  the  New  England  Association  of  Colleges 
and  Preparatory  Schools : 

"  'Criminals,  dullards,  the  feeble-minded,  and  th-.  insane  as  a 
class  are  considerably  beiow  the  average  normal  individual  in 
physique,  as  shown  by  height  and  weight.  ...  In  the  year  1893, 
Dr.  William  T.  Porter  examined  some  thirty  thousand  children  who 
were  in  the  public  schools  of  St.  Louis.  He  found  that,  among 
pupils  of  the  same  age,  the  average  height  and  weight  of  those  who 
were  of  the  higher  grades  was  greater  than  that  of  those  who  were 
in  the  lower  grades.  .  .  .  This  announcement  called  forth  consid- 
erable criticism  at  the  time.  ...  It  may  be  of  interest,  therefore, 
to  note  that  Dr.  Porter^s  conclusions  have  since  been  confirmed  by 
the  observations  made  by  Dr.  Hastings  in  Omaha,  Nebraska,  Dr. 
Byer  in  Cambridge,  Dr.  Christopher  in  Chicago,  and  by  Dr.  Leharzig 
in  St.  Petersburg,  Russia.  In  the  face  of  such  a  body  of  concur- 
rent statistics  from  different  parts  of  this  country  and  Europe,  no 
one  can  doubt  for  a  moment  the  natural  relationship  between  a 
vigorous  brain  and  a  vigorous  body.'  " 

A  scientist  supports  his  statements  with  a  long  list  of 
authorities,  quoted  at  length.  The  reader  may  skip  all 
he  does  not  care  to  read.  But  in  public  speech,  while  all 
I  have  quoted  from  President  Foster  is  sound,  we  must 
beware  of  boring  our  hearers  who  cannot  so  readily  es- 
cape. You  will  notice  that  audiences  rarely  listen  well 
to  long  extracts,  unless  the  reading  is  very  good  indeed. 
Choose  out  the  best  of  your  possible  authorities,  and  make 
your  quotations  as  brief  and  as  much  to  the  point  as  is 
practicable,  having  due  regard  for  the  other  requiremen.ls 
for  the  good  use  of  authorities. 

11.  Is  your  use  of  authority  explicit?  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  usually  well  to  state  who  your  authority  is  and 
where  the  statement  used  is  to  be  found,  unless  this  is  ob- 
viously unnecessary,  as  in  the  case  of  familiar  quota- 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tions  from  Shakespeare  or  the  Bible.  Foster  ^  properly 
condemns  such  phrases  as  these : 

Statistics  gathered  with  great  care  show — 

Many  proper  men  agree — 

Competent  authorities  say — 

We  could  give  hundreds  of  cases  to  show — 

**It  is  a  bare  assertion  to  say  that  the  number  of  estab- 
lishments maintaining  the  ten-hour  day  is  increasing. 
To  say  that  you  have  the  statement  on  'good  authority' 
is  no  better.  To  say  that  you  depend  for  authority  on 
the  words  of  Carroll  D.  Wright  is  one  step  in  advance. 
Still  the  reference  is  not  sufficiently  definite.  It  would 
be  better  to  say :  '  Carroll  D.  Wright,  formerly  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  says,  in  the  introduction 
to  his  annual  report  for  1904,  that  the  number  of  estab- 
lishments maintaining  the  ten-hour  day  is  increasing.'  " 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  better  practice  to  quote 
the  words  of  your  authority,  when  this  is  feasible,  than 
to  give  a  paraphrase.  Paraphrases  give  opportunity  for 
some  of  the  worst  trickery  of  debaters,  in  the  way  of 
garbling  and  distorting  the  statements  of  authorities.  It 
is  frequently  profitable  to  demand  or  to  look  up  the  origi- 
nals of  an  opponent's  paraphrases.  Whoever  para- 
phrases the  statements  of  others,  under  circumstances  in 
which  he  may  he  tempted  to  distort,  lays  himself  open  to 
the  suspicion  of  thoughtful  men.  Even  the  most  honest 
of  debaters  will  color  such  restatements  with  their  own 
prejudices.  There  are,  of  course,  times  when  strictness 
is  unnecessary;  but  at  best  the  paraphraser  makes  him- 
self the  authority,  and  he  should  be  confident  that  he 
will  be  accepted  in  that  role. 

You  will  note  in  the  quotation  from  Dr.  Sargent  above,  that  the 
speaker  in  citing  the  findings  of  Dr.  Porter  does  not  give  his  words, 
or  state  where  they  may  be  found ;  and  that  in  giving  supporting 

1  Argumentation  and  Debating^  p.  59. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


299 


testimony  of  other  investigators  he  merely  declares  their  findings 
were  in  harmony  with  Dr.  Porter's.  Dr.  Sargent  is  speaking  before 
a  body  little  likely  to  question  his  statements  of  fact.  The  point 
under  discussion  is  definite  and  not  liable  to  be  colored  by  preju- 
dice. Furthermore,  there  may  have  been  those  present  or  among 
the  probable  readers  of  the  paper  on  its  publication,  who  would 
challenge  any  misstatement.  There  are  times  when  a  statement 
made  in  public  acquires  a  certain  validity  from  the  fact  that  its 
author  would  hardly  risk  the  exposure  of  misstatements.  Never- 
theless, I  believe  that,  even  in  this  case,  more  explicit  reference  to 
the  authorities  would  have  been  wise. 

In  some  college  debates  upon  *'the  popular  review  of  judicial  de- 
cisions," speakers  persistently  rattled  off  lists  of  cases  which  they 
declared  illustrated  how  the  courts  refuse,  or  are  unable,  under  the 
"due  process  clause"  of  the  Constitution,  to  do  justice  to  working- 
men.  No  statements  of  the  facts  of  the  cases,  and  not  even  cita- 
tions from  the  opinions,  were  made.  Such  use  of  authority  should 
influence  only  the  simplest;  and  its  effect  should  certainly  be  de- 
stroyed for  all  by  a  simple  challenge. 

Let  me  here  register  a  protest  against  the  practice  of  young  de- 
baters of  waving  aloft  a  letter  and  shouting,  hold  in  my  hand 
a  letter  from  the  Honorable  Silas  Bunk,  Member  of  Congress  from 
Bunkum,  and  he  says  the  tariff  is  a  tax  !'*  Not  the  least  of  the 
objections  to  this  practice  is  the  nuisance  these  debaters  commit 
in  deluging  men  of  prominence  with  requests  for  opinions  on  all 
sorts  of  questions.  They  frequently  ask  for  matter  that  would  cost 
days  of  preparation.  They  usually  get  the  vaguest  of  replies,  of 
extremely  little  value. 

This  same  sort  of  a  debater  often  holds  up  a  ponderous  tome, 
makes  a  loose  statement  in  regard  to  its  contents,  and  then  stalks 
across  and  slams  it  down  on  the  table  of  his  opponents  with  a  chal- 
lenge to  refute  his  statements, — a  little  task  which  would  require 
some  hours  of  reading.  In  a  recent  debate  the  members  of  one  team 
simply  carried  great  books  under  their  arms,  without  opening  them 
or  making  a  single  definite  reference  to  their  contents.  This  would 
seem  to  be  carrying  the  game  of  "bluff"  to  its  logical  extreme. 

12.  Are  you  citing  authority  to  support  what  needs 
support?  The  fact  that  one  has  a  good  citation  should 
not  lead  him  to  use  it  where  no  support  is  needed,  or 
where  there  is  ample  support  of  a  stronger  sort. 

The  above  are  the  "more  important  considerations  which 
affect  the  use  of  authorities.    If  one  says  that  it  is  im- 


soo 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


possible  to  support  the  use  of  authorities  with  such  care 
as  is  indicated,  the  answer  is  tliat  the  degree  of  care 
depends  upon  the  circumstances  of  each  case;  but  that 
in  no  case  is  there  any  use  of  citing  authorities  in  such  a 
way  that  they  will  not  be  accepted.  But  frequently, 
after  all,  an  authority  may  be  cited  effectually  in  a  very 
simple  way.  When  you  say, ' '  General  Grant  states  in  his 
Memoirs  at  page  503 — "  you  have  said  all  that  can  be 
said;  not  that  Grant  is  always  final  authority,  but  that 
nothing  further  would  add  weight  to  your  citation. 

Attacking  authorities.  We  should  not  be  unduly  awed 
by  authorities  when  they  are  cited  against  us.  There 
are  some  which  before  some  audiences  it  is  useless  to  at- 
tack. Before  most  audiences  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
is  final;  but  Scripture  has  often  been  answered  with 
Scripture.  Very  often  we  can  show  that  a  quotation 
taken  from  unimpeachable  authority  does  not  mean, 
taken  with  its  context  or  under  the  circumstances  of  its 
utterance,  what  it  has  been  made  to  mean ;  or  we  may  be 
able  to  show  that  the  one  quoted  later  changed  his  mind. 

If  one  is  sure  of  his  ground,  he  may  attempt  to  refute 
the  opinion  of  almost  any  authority.  This  one  should 
do  modestly,  but  without  apology,  setting  forth  facts 
and  arguments  which  do  overcome  the  great  man's  opin- 
ion. After  all,  authorities  are  rarely  infallible,  and  the 
most  firmly  held  opinions  of  the  greatest  thinkers  are 
toppled  over.  The  science  and  philosophy  of  yesterday 
are  the  exploded  theories  of  to-day,  and  the  superstitions 
of  to-morrow.  Darwin  no  longer  has  the  last  word  on 
evolution.  One  should  not  let  himself  be  clubbed  into 
submission  with  great  names.  If  Shakespeare  is  hurled 
at  him,  he  may  point  out  that  Shakespeare  spoke  in  many 
characters,  and  that  it  is  impossible,  in  most  cases,  tc 
determine  what  the  playwright  really  believed.    If  the 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  301 

great  na^ne  be  Washington,  one  may  express  his  respect 
for  the  Father  of  his  Country,  and  yet  apply  certain 
tests ;  as,  Did  Washington,  in  uttering  the  words  quoted, 
have  in  mind  just  such  a  situation  as  we  face  ?  One  may 
venture,  with  care,  to  ask  why  Washington  should  be 
assumed  to  have  had  a  wisdom  equal  to  guiding  us  in  all 
respects  to-day,  a  wisdom  he  would  not  have  claimed  for 
a  moment.  Why  should  it  be  thought  that  Monroe,  or 
John  Quincy  Adams,  should  guide  us  in  dealing  with 
Mexico  ? 

We  must,  however,  take  cognizance  of  the  danger  from 
laying  ourselves  open  to  the  sneer,  ^ '  He  thinks  he  knows 
more  than  Washington  ! ' '  In  one  short  speech  the  task 
of  overcoming  a  great  name  may  be  too  difficult  to  at- 
tempt. Frequently  it  is  best  to  ignore  an  authority  which 
has  great  influence,  rather  than  to  emphasize  its  im- 
portance by  futile  attack.  Prove  your  case  otherwise ;  or 
hurl  greater  authority,  or  a  large  number  of  good  author- 
ities, at  your  opponent's  position. 

There  are  not  many  who  would  ve^cure  so  far  as  did  Webster,  in 
the  following  incident,  which  illustrates  the  importance  of  the  repu- 
tation of  the  speaker  who  defies  authority  :  i 

"In  the  celebrated  ^mitJi  Will  trial,  his  antagonist,  Mr.  Choate, 
quoted  a  decision  of  Lord  Chancellor  Camden.  In  his  reply,  Web- 
ster argued  against  its  validity  as  though  it  were  a  proposition  laid 
down  by  Mr.  Choate.  'But  it  is  not  mine,  it  is  Lord  Camden's,* 
was  the  instant  retort.  Webster  paused  for  half  a  minute,  and  then, 
with  his  eye  fixed  on  the  presiding  judge,  he  replied :  'Lord  Cam- 
den was  a  great  judge ;  he  is  respected  by  every  American,  for  he 
was  on  our  side  in  the  Revolution ;  but,  may  it  please  your  honor, 
I  differ  from  Lord  Oamden.'  There  was  hardly  a  lawyer  in  the 
United  States  who  could  have  made  such  a  statement  without  ex- 
posing himself  to  ridicule ;  but  it  did  not  seem  at  all  ridiculous,  when 
the  '1'  stood  for  Daniel  Webster." 

The  following  from  Lincoln,  in  discussing  the  Dred  Scott  Deci- 
sion by  the  Supreme  Court,  is  at  once  an  instance  of  a  bold  facing 
of  an  imposing  authority,  and,  as  Poster  points  out,  a  statement  of 
how  such  an  authority  may  be  tested.    If  memory  serves,  both 

i-  Whipple,  Webster  as  a  Master  of  Enplish  Style, 


302 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Bryan  aild  Roosevelt  have  used  this  passage  to  them  in 

questioning  decisions  of  this  court. 

"Judicial  decisions  are  of  greater  or  less  authority  as  precedents 
according  to  circumstances.  That  this  should  be  so  accords  both 
with  common  sense  and  the  customary  understanding  of  the  legal 
profession. 

"If  this  important  decision  had  been  made  by  the  unanimous  con- 
currence of  the  judges,  and  without  any  apparent  partizan  bias, 
and  in  accordance  with  legal  public  expectation  and  with  the  steady 
practice  of  the  departments  throughout  our  history,  and  had  been 
in  no  part  based  on  assumed  historical  facts,  which  are  not  really 
true ;  or,  if  wanting  in  some  of  these,  it  had  been  before  the  court 
more  than  once  and  had  there  been  affirmed  and  reaffirmed  through 
a  course  of  years,  it  might  then  be,  perhaps  would  be,  factious,  nay 
even  revolutionary,  not  to  acquiesce  in  it  as  a  precedent. 

"But  when,  as  is  true,  we  find  it  wanting  in  all  these  claims  to 
the  public  confidence,  it  is  not  factious,  it  is  not  even  disrespectful, 
to  treat  it  as  not  having  yet  quite  established  a  settled  doctrine 
for  the  country." 

Lincoln,  of  course,  substantiated  and  amplified  the  assertions  of 
this  compact  passage.  This  necessity  of  opposing  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  a  serious  burden  upon  Lincoln,  throughout  his 
debates  with  Douglas,  and  again  and  again  he  defends  himself.  In 
his  debate  at  Quincy  he  says : 

"We  do  not  propose  that  when  Dred  Scott  has  been  decided  to 
be  a  slave  by  the  court,  we,  as  a  mob,  will  decide  him  to  be  free. 
.  .  .  We  propose  so  resisting  as  to  have  the  decision  reversed  if 
we  can,  and  a  new  judicial  rule  established  upon  this  subject." 

At  Galesburgh,  he  cites  authorities  that  Douglas  is  bound  to  re- 
spect as  a  Democrat : 

"Jefferson  said  that  ^Judges  are  as  honest  as  other  men,  and 
not  more  so.'  And  he  said,  substantially,  *that  whenever  a  free 
people  should  give  up  in  absolute  submission  to  any  department  of 
government,  retaining  for  themselves  no  appeal  from  it,  their  lib- 
erties were  gone.' " 

At  Ottawa  Lincoln  not  only  cited  famous  Democrats,  but  made 
Douglas  himself  furnish  a  precedent : 

^  "This  man  sticks  to  a  decision  .  .  .  not  because  he  says  it  is 
right  in  itself  .  .  .  but  because  it  has  been  decided  hy  the  court; 
and  ...  a  decision  of  the  court  is  to  him  a  'Thus  saith  the  Lord.' 
...  It  is  nothing  that  I  point  out  to  him  that  his  great  prototype, 
General  Jackson,  did  not  believe  in  the  binding  force  of  decisions. 
It  is  nothing  that  Jefferson  did  not  so  believe.  ...  I  will  tell  him, 
though,  that  he  now  claims  to  stand  on  the  Cincinnati  platform, 
which  affirms  that  Congress  cannot  charter  a  national  bank,  in  the 
teeth  of  that  old  standing  decision  that  Congress  can  charter  a 
bank.  And  I  remind  him  of  another  piece  of  history  on  the  ques- 
tion of  respect  for  judicial  decisions,  and  it  is  a  piece  of  Illinois  his- 
tory, belonging  to  a  time  when  a  large  party  to  which  Judge  Doug- 
las belonged  were  displeased  with  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Illinois.  ...  I  know  that  Judge  Douglas  will  not  deny  that  he 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  303 


was  then  in  favor  of  overslaughing  that  decision  by  the  mode  of 
adding  five  new  judges,  so  as  to  vote  down  the  four  old  ones.  Not 
only  so,  but  it  ended  in  the  Judge's  sitting  down  on  the  very  bench 
as  one  of  the  five  new  judges  to  break  down  the  four  old  ones.  It 
was  in  this  way  precisely  that  he  got  his  title  of  judge.  Now,  when 
the  Judge  tells  me  that  men  appointed  conditionally  to  sit  as  mem- 
bers of  a  court  will  have  to  be  catechized  beforehand  upon  some 
subject,  I  say,  *You  know,  Judge,  you  have  tried  it!'" 

Intercollegiate  debaters  have  an  overworked  trick  of  quoting  as 
authority  the  president  or  other  prominent  faculty  member  of  the 
institution  their  opponents  represent,  with  an  air  which  seems  to 
say,  "You  cannot  go  back  on  that!"  The  shallow  trick  was  neatly 
exposed  by  a  Pennsylvania  debater  in  a  contest  with  a  Cbrnell 
team.  The  Cornell  debaters  had  quoted  with  gusto  several  times 
Dean  William  Draper  Lewis  of  the  College  of  Law  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  in  favor  of  the  popular  review  of  judicial 
decisions.  The  Pennsylvania  leader  finally  replied :  "We  have 
great  respect  for  Dean  Lewis  and  for  his  opinions  on  questions  of 
law;  but  we  do  not  feel  bound  to  accept  his  authority  as  final  on 
any  question  whatever.    *If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it !'  " 

When  confronted  with  authorities  not  very  imposing 
in  the  eyes  of  your  audience,  the  case  is  less  difficult. 
They  may  be  ignored  at  times.  The  problem  is  to  judge 
whether  they  have  made  impression  enough  to  be  worth 
your  time,  or  the  risk  of  giving  them  importance  through 
an  attack.  The  methods  of  attack  in  general  should  be 
apparent  enough  from  the  questions  above. 

If  some  man  is  put  forward  as  authority  who  is  not 
well  known  and  whose  claim  to  be  an  authority  is  not  well 
supported,  the  simple  question,  Who  is  this  Smith? 
may  suffice  to  destroy  the  effect  of  his  statements;  or 
one  may  proceed  at  once  to  show  how  little  grounds  there 
are  for  making  Smith  an  authority.  Unless  you  know 
his  pretensions  are  flimsy,  however,  you  run  the  risk  of 
an  effective  rejoinder  in  his  support,  and  your  question 
will  have  emphasized  his  importance. 

The  question  of  prejudice  should  be  especially  noticed. 
The  intimation  that  an  authority  is  biased  is  so  destruc- 
tive to  his  influence,  that  the  charge  is  often  made  with- 


S04  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


out  good  reason.  But  the  fact  that  the  charge  of  bias  is 
made  unscrupulously  should  not  deter  us  in  a  clear  case 
from  questioning  an  authority  on  this  ground.  If  Macau- 
lay  were  quoted  on  a  question  of  English  history,  a  ques- 
tion disputed  by  Whigs  and  Tories,  it  would  be  fair  to 
use  the  statement  quoted  above  from  President  Wilson  in 
regard  to  Macaulay 's  Whig  bias.  On  partizan  questions 
any  politician 's  statements  are  open  to  attack. 

What  means  of  overcoming  authority  have  been  used  in  the  fol- 
lowing : 

letter  from  'H.  L.*  in  your  columns  on  April  20  quotes  a  state- 
ment from  a  few  English  i)hysicians  as  to  the  benefits  of  alcoholic 
liquors  both  as  medicine  and  as  beverage.  This  statement  is  said 
by  H.  L.  to  have  appeared  in  the  Lancet  're<jently.'  The  fact  is  it 
appeared  in  the  Lancet  some  years  ago.  It  was  prepared  by  an 
agent  of  the  liquor  traffic  in  England  and  signed  by  only  sixteen 
physicians  out  of  the  thousands  of  physicians  of  that  country. 
Upon  investigation  it  was  found  that  about  half  of  the  signers 
were  men  who  ow^ned  brewery  or  distillery  stock.  That  such  a 
statement  was  deemed  necessary  was  due  to  the  outspoken  utter- 
ances against  alcoholic  liquors  of  such  men  as  Sir  Frederick  Treves, 
surgeon  to  the  King;  Sir  Thomas  Barlow,  physician  to  the  King; 
Sir  Victor  Horsley,  England's  greatest  neurological  surgeon;  Sir 
A.  Pearce  Gould  of  the  Middlesex  Hospital,  Sir  .Tames  Barr,  dean  of 
the  Medical  School  of  Liverpool  University ;  Prof.  Sims  Woodhead 
of  Cambridge  University  Medical  School,  and  others  of  like  stand- 
ing." 

Authoritativeness  of  the  speaker.  Not  only  will  cita- 
tions from  others  have  an  influence  in  securing  fair- 
minded  attention  from  an  audience,  but  also  the  attitude^ 
reputation  and  characteristics  of  the  speaker  himself. 
He,  after  all,  is  usually  the  principal  authority  for  the 
occasion. ^Nothing  helps  a  speaker  more  than  the  feeling 
upon  the  part  of  his  hearers  that  he  is  sound  and  trust- 
worthy. /' 

/ We  like  to  know,  first,  that  our  speaker  is  well  fitted 
to  treat  his  subject,  that  he  knows  what  he  is  talking 
about.  We  are  especially  pleased  if  his  investigation 
and  his  experiences  give  him  special  fitness.  We  like  to 
hear  an  engineer  who  has  had  a  part  in  building  the 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


305 


Panama  Canal  tell  of  its  construction.  At  times  it  is 
desirable  that  the  audience  be  told  of  a  speaker's  special 
fitness.  The  speaker  may  do  tliis  himself,  with  entire 
frankness  and  without  either  boasting  or  self-deprecia- 
tion. Sometimes  the  facts  may  be  brought  out  indirectly, 
as  in  the  narrative  portion  of  an  address,  where  a  single 
pronoun  may  suffice  to  let  the  audience  know  the  speaker 
witnessed  the  events  he  describes;  as,  ''Our  party  was 
stationed  at  this  point. ' '  Frequently  a  discreet  chairman 
will  make  the  statement  which,  without  puffery,  adds  to 
the  speaker's  prestige. 

In  most  cases  the  fact  that  one  comes  fomard  to  speak  should 
be  sufficient  announcement  of  his  preparation.  Happy  is  the 
speaker  who  has  established  a  reputation  for  fulfilling  the  just  ex- 
pectations of  his  audience  in  this  respect.  Student  speakers  in  a 
class  in  public  speaking  usually  need  no  announcement.  There  are, 
however,  instances  in  which  such  speakers  do  well  to  let  their  hearers 
know  of  their  special  opportunities  for  information.  A  student 
speaking  on  labor  problems  may  properly  refer  to  his  experiences  as 
laborer,  foreman,  or  employer.  Or,  one  speaking  on  a  Southern 
question  would  gain  in  authority  by  such  an  allusion  as,  "Down  in 
my  home  state  of  Alabama." 

Extravagance  of  statement.  In  the  second  place,  a 
speaker  is  much  assisted  by  a  reputation  for  sound  judg- 
ment. This  reputation  is  gained  by  emotional  poise, 
good  logic  and  wise  conclusions.  Such  a  reputation  is 
weakened  by  the  habit  of  rash  and  exaggerated  state- 
ment. ^^That  terrible  sanity  of  the  average  man  is 
always  watching  you,"  says  Barrett  Wendell.^  If  you 
recklessly  overstate  your  claims,  all  your  statements  will 
be  mistrusted.  Habitual  exaggeration  on  your  part  will 
lead  to  habitual  discounting  by  your  hearers.  Claims 
that  votes  for  women"  will  cure  all  the  ills  of  the  body 
politic  have  hurt  rather  than  helped  the  suffrage  prop- 
aganda. 

I  English  Composition,  p.  271. 


306 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


I  have  rarely  heard  a  speech  on  either  side  of  this  subject  which 
did  not  drive  me  into  opposition  by  its  extravagance.  *'When  we 
women  get  the  ballot,  we  shall  make  impossible  all  these  dreadful 
inequalities  of  wages,"  says  one.  "When  women  go  to  the  polls 
homes  will  become  a  thing  of  the  past,"  says  an  opponent.  And 
the  unexcitable  citizen,  rejecting  all  this  exaggeration  and  losing 
sight  of  the  importance  of  the  problem,  says,  "Dear,  dear !  is  n't  it 
awful?  Let  'em  vote  if  they  are  sure  they  want  to.  Well,  how's 
business?" 

The  effect  of  exaggeration  in  argument  was  well  illustrated  when 
a  student  in  a  speech  on  Sulzer's  Impeachment,  in  the  fall  of  1913, 
lauded  the  former  governor  of  New  York  to  the  skies  and  described 
his  enemies  as  monsters  of  iniquity.  A  classmate  asked  to  com- 
ment on  the  speech,  said,  "It  was  a  good  speech,  but  I  was  not  in 
the  least  convinced.'^    Wsls  it,  then,  a  good  speech? 

Condemnation  of  smoking  before  boys  (whose  fathers  may  be 
smokers)  in  terms  which  put  it  on  a  par  with  drunkenness,  is  not 
effective.  Teachers  who  treat  bad  usage  in  English  as  if  it  were 
a  sin,  drive  pupils  to  despise  all  care  in  expression.  Reasonable- 
ness of  attitude  may  not  produce  talk  that  sounds  so  strong,  but  it 
accomplishes  more  than  exaggeration. 

Extravagance  of  statement  repels  especially  the  consti- 
tutionally conservative,  increasing  their  natural  suspicion 
of  new  proposals.  It  also  repels  the  trained  thinkers, 
who  are  accustomed  to  looking  carefully  to  the  support 
of  assertions.  The  exaggerator  thus  loses  many  of  those 
in  the  neutral  division  of  his  audience.  Upon  those 
mildly  in  opposition  the  effect  of  exaggeration  is  often 
to  drive  them  into  more  active  opposition.  Do  not 
present  your  plan  or  remedy,  before  thinking  people,  in 
terms  that  sound  like  the  advertisement  of  a  patent  medi- 
cine, guaranteed  to  cure  absolutely  every  ill  that  flesh 
is  heir  to.  The  weary  old  world  is  unable  to  believe  in 
such  panaceas. 

Exaggerated  statements  are  specially  open  to  mis- 
understanding. Statements  that  may  have  been  ac- 
cepted as  justifiable  in  the  heat  of  debate,  appear  in  a 
different  light  in  the  morning  paper,  or  when  quoted  on 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


307 


the  street.  Misunderstood  and  misquoted,  they  may 
travel  far  and  win  for  their  author  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing unsafe.  And  once  he  becomes  known  as  an  extremist, 
a  man  not  to  be  trusted,  while  he  may  draw  crowds  and 
win  applause,  he  will  not  find  open  to  him  the  ears  of  / 
the  earnest  seekers  after  truth,  the  honest,  moderate  pro- 
gressive who  brings  things  to  pass.  No  doubt  the  agitator 
has  his  place  in  our  scheme  of  society,  beating  on  the 
tom-toms  and  calling  attention  to  wrongs;  but  the 
Lincolns,  not  the  Phillipses,  in  the  end  win  the  masses 
of  men  and  carry  through  reforms. 

The  exaggerator  plays  into  the  hands  of  his  opponents. 
First,  because  he  makes  it  so  easy  for  them  to  discredit 
him,  by  proving  the  untrustworthiness  of  his  statements.  ' 
Falsus  in  uno,  falsiis  in  omnibus,  is  a  proverb  audiences 
are  quick  to  accept.  Authorities  can  be  used  effectively 
against  the  exaggerator.  The  gentleman  says  that  the 
cruel  justice  of  the  white  man  has  left  but  few  Indians 
in  his  native  land;  but  So  and  So,  the  w^ell  known  au- 
thority, in  such  and  such  a  place,  declares  that  there  are 
more  Indians  in  America  to-day  than  in  the  days  of 
Columbus.  In  the  second  place,  the  exaggerator  makes 
wilful  misrepresentation  very  easy. 

That  the  danger  of  misrepresentation,  wilful  or  otherwise,  to 
which  I  have  several  times  referred,  is  real,  will  be  questioned  by 
no  one  who  has  passed  through  any  war  of  words.  A  review  of  the 
Lincoln-Douglas  Debates  will  show  how  even  a  man  so  careful  in 
his  statements  as  Lincoln  was  constantly  misrepresented  by  the 
wily  Douglas.    I  have  referred  already  to  the  debate  at  Alton. 

Mrs.  Phillip  Snowdon,  the  eloquent  English  advocate  of  women's 
suffrage,  told  in  a  speech  of  reading  in  the  same  Scottish  paper  of  a 
man  who  for  stealing  two  overcoats  in  order  to  get  food  for  his 
children  was  given  a  sentence  of  six  months,  and  of  another  man 
who  for  criminally  assaulting  a  little  girl  was  fined  five  shillings. 
Before  proceeding  to  her  criticisms  on  man-made  and  man-admin- 
istered law,  she  spoke  very  deliberately  to  this  effect :  "Now,  mind 
you,  it  is  wrong  to  steal  overcoats.    Every  public  speaker  present 


308 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


will  sympathize  with  me  when  I  say  I  do  not  wish  to  be  repres 
as  saying  anything  to  the  contrary.    It  is  wrong  to  steal  overco 

It  is  not  possible,  of  course,  to  emphasize  both  side, 
a  truth  at  once,  and  overemphasis  in  vigorous  stateme 
is  almost  inevitable.  Indeed,  the  preceding  paragrap 
taken  alone,  exaggerate  the  evils  of  exaggeration.  ^ 
have  already  noted  that  exaggeration  has  its  place  in 
handling  crowds  and  mobs.  Positiveness  is  an  element 
fc"^^  in  authoritativeness.  If  a  speaker  is  not  sure  of  his 
ground,  his  hearers  are  little  likely  to  accept  his  state- 
ments or  conclusions.  The  world  listens  to  the  man  who 
knows ;  it  does  not  follow  doubting  leaders.  The 
speaker,  therefore,  should  limit  his  statements  with  as  few 
qualifying  clauses  as  is  consistent  with  truth.  The  way 
to  gain  the  force  of  positiveness,  however,  is  not  to  make 
reckless  assertions,  but  to  make  sure  of  one's  ground. 
Few  of  us  would  care  to  say  with  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
^^I  am  never  wrong  on  a  subject  I  have  investigated''; 
but  we  should  by  investigation  and  by  consulting  authori- 
ties, so  far  as  possible  obey  the  injunction,  ''Be  sure  you 
are  right,  and  then  go  ahead."  We  should  obey  both 
parts,  too ;  that  is,  having  made  sure,  we  should  go  ahead 
with  conviction  and  confidence. 

Hyperbole,  that  is,  exaggeration  understood  as  such,  is 
effective  for  arousing  one 's  adherents,  who  need  no  argu- 
ments as  to  the  correctness  of  the  speaker's  position,  but 
do  need  enthusiasm.  Wlien  the  German  Emperor  pro- 
claims that  Germany  will  fight  while  a  single  German 
soldier  has  breath  in  his  body,  we  understand  that  he  is 
speaking  the  language  of  strong  emotion,  and  is  inciting 
his  people  to  great  sacrifices. 

A  painful  degree  of  accuracy  is  not  demanded  of  a  public  speaker. 
$l,cSD7,G89  may  be  spoken  of  as  $2,000,000,  or  as  millions,  unless 
accuracy  is  iujportant.    Honesty,  in  public  as  in  private  speech, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  309 


depends  upon  the  understanding-  of  one's  hearers.  When  Wendell 
Phillips  shouted  to  an  angry  i  udience  as  he  turned  to  the  reporters, 
*'Howl  on ;  I  speak  to  thirty  millions  here !"  nobody  took  him  up 
on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  possibly  reach  the  entire  population 
through  the  papers.  Again,  inaccurate  words  may  express  essential 
truth  better  than  accurate  words.  When  a  speaker  says  that  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln  plunged  the  country  into  profound  grief 
and  shocked  the  civilized  world,  we  do  not  understand  him  to  mean 
that  all  Americans  wept  and  lost  their  appetites,  and  that  the 
business  of  the  world  halted ;  yet  the  words  do  convey  truly  enough 
the  effect  of  that  calamity  upon  the  calloused  indifference  of  man- 
kind. 

^'Hyperbole  may  assist  precision,  even  when  it  falsifies  fact. 
Said  John  Randolph  when  seeking  to  provoke  a  duel  with  Henry 
Clay,  'A  hyperbole  for  meanness  is  an  ellipsis  for  Clay.'  Though 
false  to  fact  it  was  not  so  to  the  real  meaning  of  the  speaker."  i 

As  Genung  says.2  ^'Hyperbole  is  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
while  the  observer  may  conceive  an  object  vividly  there  is  a  shrink- 
age in  the  reader's  apprehension  of  it.  Its  exaggeration  does  not 
mislead  it ;  it  simply  allows  for  the  shrinkage." 

But  as  the  same  writer  points  out,  hyperbole  easily  runs  into  bom- 
bast, or  makes  its  subject  ludicrous.  Listen  to  a  student  of  mine, 
speaking  in  dead  earnest  on  the  bribery  of  city  officials  by  street 
railway  companies :  *'These  examples  should  stir  your  cold  Ameri- 
can blood  to  white  heat !  Red  hot  flames  of  anger  should  issue  from 
your  mouths  as  from  fiery  furnaces !  If  you  are  true  Americans 
you  will  do  something !" 

The  strength  of  understatement.  We  are  now  ready 
to  note,  what  young  speakers  are  often  slow  to  learn, 
that  understatement  is  sometimes  more  forceful  and  per- 
suasive than  overstatement.  Perhaps  no  speaker  ever 
had  more  authority  than  Webster.  After  hearing  one  of 
his  short  speeches  a  farmer  said,  ^^He  didn't  say  much, 
but  every  word  weighed  a  pound."  One  element  in 
this  weightiness  is  explained  in  the  following  from 
Marsh :  ^ 

'^It  was  a  maxim  of  Webster's,  that  violence  of  lan- 
guage was  indicative  of  feebleness  of  thought  and  want 
of  reasoning  power,  and  it  was  his  practice  to  under- 

1  Phelps  and  Frink,  Rhetoric,  p.  82. 

2  Working  Principles  of  Rhetoric,  p.  99. 

3  Lectures  on  the  English  Language,  p.  235. 


310  PUBLIC  F  NG 

state  rather  than  overstat  ength  of  his  confidence 
in  the  soundness  of  his  ^uments,  and  the  logical 
necessity  of  his  conclu  .  JLe  kept  his  auditor  con- 
stantly in  advance  of  suggestion  rather  than  by 
strong  asseveration,  im  exposition  of  considera- 
tions which  ought  t  .  feeling  in  the  heart  of  both 
speaker  and  heare^  an  undignified  and  theatrical 
exhibition  of  pasF  imself . ' ' 

Do  not  indulge  l  in  the  exclamatory  style,  which 
is  a  besetting  sin  of  some  preachers.  They  deliver  whole 
sermons  in  which  the  scare  mark''  (!)  is  the  only  ap- 
propriate punctuation.  This  produces  the  style  de- 
scribed as  the  ''feeble  forcible."  I  should  be  sorry  to 
have  my  urging  to  make  expression  vivid  take  as  urging 
this  strained  form  of  statement ;  though  the  exclamation, 
sparingly  used,  may  be  effective. 

I  heard  a  man  who  had  recently  seen  something  of  the  horrors  of 
the  European  war.  He  was  evidently  greatiy'^moved  by  his  ex- 
periences, and  we  responded  to  his  earnestness  and  to  the  interest  of 
his  theme ;  but  the  effect  was  much  lessened  by  his  constantly  telling 
us  how  greatly  the  scenes  moved  him  rather  than  telling  us  in  sim- 
ple terms  what  moved  him.  Another  speaker  upon  the  same  theme 
impressed  me  much  more.  He  had  the  skill  to  tell  just  what  he 
had  seen.  This  he  did  very  interestingly,  without  a  single  expres- 
sion of  horror;  yet  the  fi^l  impression  was  a  strong  disgust  for 
modern  warfare.  Simple^  vividness  was  sufficient  for  facts  that 
could  not  be  exaggerated. 

The  following  from  a  speech  by  Lowell  at  a  dinner  given  him 
in  London  in  1888,  is  cited  by  Brander  Matthews  as  "a  most  felici- 
tous example  of  the  value  of  adroit  understatement."  i 

"I  have  been  told  often  enough  to  remember  that  my  countrymen 
are  apt  to  think  that  they  are  always  in  the  right — that  they  are 
apt  to  look  at  their  own  side  of  the  quevStion  only.  Now,  this  char- 
acteristic conduces  certainly  to  peace  of  mind  and  imperturbability 
of  judgment,  whatever  other  ments  it  may;  have.  [Fie  paused  a 
moment,  and  then  added:]  I  am  sure  I  don't  know  where  we  got 
it — do  you?" 

Wendell  Phillips,  that  *'infernal  machine  set  ti)  music,"  showed 
in  his  oration  on  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  that  he  knew  well  the 
value  of  restraint  of  expression  in  the  midst  of  a  speech  which, 


1  Notes  on  Speech-Making^  p.  70, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  Sll 


a  whole,  must  have  impressed  his  hearers  in  18G1  as  a  marvel  of 
exaggeration.  He  no  doubt  realized  that  understatement  is  a  most 
valuable  means  of  giving  exaggeration  plausibility.  It  is  worth 
while  to  quote  a  considerable  passage  as  an  example  of  good  oral 
style : 

**Liet  us  pause  a  moment  and  find  something  to  measure  him  by. 
You  remember  Macaulay  says,  comparing  Cromwell  with  Napoleon, 
that  Cromwell  showed  the  greater  military  genius,  if  we  consider 
that  he  never  saw  an  army  till  he  was  forty ;  while  Napoleon  was 
educated  from  a  boy  in  the  best  military  schools  in  Europe.  Crom- 
well manufactured  his  own  army ;  Napoleon  at  the  age  of  twenty 
seven  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  best  troops  Europe  ever  saw. 
They  were  both  successful ;  but  says  Macaulay,  with  such  disad- 
vantages, the  Englishman  showed  the  greater  genius.  Whether  you 
allow  the  inference  or  not,  you  will  at  least  g-rant  that  it  is  a  fair 
mode  of  measurement.  Apply  it  to  Toussaint.  Cromwell  never 
saw  an  army  till  he  was  forty ;  this  man  never  saw  a  soldier  till 
he  was  fifty.  Cromwell  manufactured  his  own  army — out  of  what? 
Englishmen, — the  best  blood  in  Europe.  Out  of  the  middle  class 
of  Englishmen, — the  best  blood  of  the  island.  And  with  it  he  con- 
quered what?  Englishmen, — their  equals.  This  man  manufactured 
his  army  out  of  what?  Out  of  what  you  call  the  despicable  race  of 
negroes,  debased,  demoralized  by  two  hundred  years  of  slavery,  one 
hundred  thousand  of  them  imported  into  the  island  within  four 
years,  unable  to  speak  a  dialect  intelligible  even  to  each  other.  Yet 
out  of  this  mixed  and,  as  you  say,  despicable  mass,  he  forged  a 
thunderbolt  and  hurled  it  at  what?  At  the  proudest  blood  in 
Europe,  the  Spaniard,  and  sent  him  home  conquered ;  at  the  most 
warlike  blood  in  Europe,  the  French,  and  put  them  under  his  feet ; 
at  the  pluckiest  blood  in  Europe,  the  English,  and  they  skulked 
home  to  Jamaica.  Now  if  Cromwell  was  a  general,  at  least  this 
man  was  a  soldier." 

Had  Phillips  expressed  the  conclusion  one  is  bracing  himself 
against, — that  Toussaint  was  a  greater  general  than  Cromwell  or 
Napoleon,' — one's  judgment  would  reject  the  claim  in  spite  of  the 
plausible  argument;  but  hearing  the  mild  assertion  that  Toussaint 
(vas  a  soldier,  one  is  prompted  to  exclaim,  by  a  sort  of  reaction, 
"Nay,  he  was  much  more."  We  see  here  two  reasons  for  the  force 
of  understatement :  a  sense  of  relief  that  the  claim  is  not  greater, 
and  a  prompting  to  assert  more  than  one  would  accept  from  th« 
speaker. 

Humor  and  authority.  An  important  question  arises 
with  regard  to  the  influence  of  humor  upon  the  speaker's 
authority.  It  is  very  pleasing  to  acquire  the  reputation 
of  being  amusing,  but  not  so  pleasant  to  find  that  people 
refuse  to  take  one  seriously.  It  is  said  that  Mark  Twain 
felt  so  keenly  the  limitations  due  to  his  reputation,  that 


S12 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


he  first  published  his  life  of  Joan  of  Arc  anonymously, 
so  that  it  would  not  be  taken  as  a  joke.  There  are  come- 
dians on  the  stage  eating  their  hearts  out  because  when 
they  attempt  serious  parts  their  public  insists  that  they 
are  funny.  There  is  a  public  man,  famous  as  an  after- 
dinner  speaker,  to  whose  attempts  at  serious  argument 
one's  chief  reaction  is,  Hurry  up  and  tell  us  another 
story."  Your  funny  man"  rarely  succeeds  in  politics. 
Mr.  Job  Hedges,  a  serious  and  able  gentleman,  suffered 
in  his  campaign  for  the  governorship  of  New  York  in 
1912  from  the  fact  that  in  several  earlier  campaigns  he 
had  served  as  the  humorist  to  warm  up  audiences  for 
such  serious  speakers  as  Governor  Hughes.  Genung  puts 
the  case  of  the  '^funny  man"  well :  ^ 

''Men  will  consent  to  be  amused  by  him;  they  will 
come  in  crowds  to  laugh  at  his  wit  and  drollery;  but 
when  he  attempts  to  exhort  them  earnestly  they  cannot 
easily  realize  that  he  is  not  joking.  They  have  measured 
his  character  by  a  lightness  of  standard  that  he  cannot 
easily  surmount.  This  is  not  said  as  against  the  use  of 
humor  in  public  address;  it  merely  refers  to  the  use  of 
humor  as  the  staple  of  the  address.  It  should  be  known 
that  if  one  aspires  to  reputation  as  a  funny  man,  he  has 
to  pay  for  it  by  sacrificing  something  that  he  may  after- 
wards wish  he  had  cherished.  ...  In  the  college  world, 
too,  men  inevitably  find  their  level.  I  have  seen  men 
whose  rising  to  speak  on  any  topic  before  their  class- 
mates only  produced  a  broad  grin,  the  broader  as  the 
speaker  attempted  to  be  more  earnest.  These  men  had 
been  too  content  to  be  class  buffoons ;  and  when  they  as- 
sumed the  solemn  role  their  classmates  judged  that  their 
specific  gravity  was  too  light  to  sustain  such  character, 
and  they  would  have  none  of  it. ' ' 

The  bearing  of  these  observations  upon  our  problem 
of  commanding  serious  attention  is  evident  enough.  Yet 
^Practical  Rhetoric,  p.  451. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  SIS 


we  need  not  go  to  the  extreme  of  Ex-Senator  Beveridge 
who  seems  to  hold  that  humor  should  never  be  employed 
,  in  a  speech  of  serious  purpose.^  While  we  recognize  its  ^ 
dangers,  in  decreasing  a  speaker's  authority  and  also 
in  distracting  attention  when  improperly  used,  we  have 
also  noted  its  value  in  bringing  an  audience  into  a  de> 
sired  mood,  so  that  they  may  be  willing  to  listen,  and  we 
know  well  the  power  of  well  used  humor  in  making  a 
point  stick."  A  moderate  use  of  humor  is  not  at  all 
inconsistent  with  a  serious  purpose.  All  depends  upon 
how  it  is  used.  As  a  rule,  the  students  in  my  classes  are 
much  too  solemn,  and  a  joke  is  so  unusual  that  often  when 
one  is  attempted  by  a  student  speaker,  his  classmates 
blink  solemnly  without  recognizing  it;  for  a  joke,  you 
must  know,  is  most  appreciated  when  it  is  expected. 

One  hardly  knows  what  to  make  of  Senator  Beveridge's  state- 
ments that,  "To  find  a  joke  in  Webster  would  be  an  offense.  .  .  . 

^  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  address,  his  first  and  second  inaugurals,  his 
speech  beginning  the  Douglas  campaign  and  his  Cooper  Union  ad- 
dress in  New  York  are,  perhaps,  the  only  utterances  of  his  that 

I  will  endure.  Yet  this  greatest  of  story  tellers  since  ^sop  did  not 
adorn  or  deface  one  of  these  great  deliverances  with  a  story  or  any 

j  form  of  humor."  It  is  true  the  reports  of  Webster's  speeches  are 
annotated  with  "Cheers"  and  "Great  applause,"  and  that  you  will 
look  long  for  "Ljaughter,"  but  you  will  find  that.  There  is  in  a 
speech  of  his  at  Rochester  much  ponderous  jesting  about  the  high 
falls  of  the  Genesee  River.  But  turn  to  the  speech  generally  called 
Webster's  greatest,  and  by  some  the  greatest  speech  of  all  time, 

'  the  Reply  to  Hayne.  No  speech  in  our  history  has  had  a  more  seri- 
ous occasion  or  purpose ;  yet  it  begins  humorously,  and  contains 

I   several  humorous  passages.    These  are  grim  jokes,  to  be  sure,  but 

'  still  they  are  plainly  marked  as  jokes,  and  no  doubt  were  intended 
to  relieve  somewhat  the  unavoidable  grimness  of  the  situation. 

One  is  glad  to  have  stress  laid  on  the  fact  that  Lincoln's  speeches 
are  serious  and  free  from  the  clownishness  sometimes  attributed  to 
him.  One  will  find  many  places  in  the  debates  with  Douglas  where 
Lincoln  has  made  humor  effective  for  his  argument,  though  no 
places  where  he  has  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  be  funny  for  the 

1  Reed's  Modern  Eloquence,  Introduction  to  Vol.  XII. 


S14 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


sake  of  the  laugh  only.  There  are  very  few  stories  and  those  briefly 
put.  Of  course,  in  his  inaugurals  and  at  Gettysburg  humor  would 
have  been  as  much  out  of  place  as  in  a  psalm.  But  look  at  the 
other  speeches  mentioned.  One  cannot  doubt  that  Lincoln's  audi- 
ence was  moved  to  laughter  more  than  once  during  his  Springfield 
speech. 

The  Cooper  Union  speech  has  already  been  cited.  Throughout 
his  very  serious  argument  that  the  fathers  were  not  Douglas  Demo- 
crats there  runs  a  vein  of  humor,  a  sort  of  unexpressed  chuckle  over 
the  dilemma  into  which  he  is  placing  his  opponent.  One  will  look 
long  to  find  a  better  example  of  wit  employed  to  destroy  a  some- 
what slippery  fallacy,  than  this  from  the  Cooper  Union  speech : 

"But  you  will  not  abide  the  election  of  a  Republican  president ! 
In  that  supposed  event,  you  say,  you  will  destroy  the  Union;  and 
then,  you  say,  the  great  crime  of  having  destroyed  it  w^ill  be  upon 
us !  That  is  cool.  A  highwayman  holds  a  pistol  to  my  ear,  and 
mutters  through  his  teeth,  *Stand  and  deliver,  or  I  shall  kill  you. 
and  then  you  will  be  a  murderer.'  " 

The  authoritativeness  of  a  speaker  is  affected  also  by  his  per- 
sonal qualities,  which  will  be  treated  below.  These  will  be  treated, 
however,  not  only  as  affecting  authoritativeness,  but  more  broadly 
as  affecting  directly  persuasiveness.  These  and  other  qualities  also 
enter  into  moral  character,  but  a  few  words  may  be  said  in  general 
upon — 

Moral  character  and  the  speaker's  influence.  Many 
writers  upon  the  influence  of  speakers  over  audiences 
have  emphasized  simple  goodness.  The  old  Roman 
Quintilian,  who  taught  oratory  in  the  first  century,  said, 
^'An  orator  is  a  good  man  skilled  in  speaking."  It  is 
readily  seen  that  a  man  of  notoriously  bad  life  cannot  be 
an  effective  preacher  of  righteousness,  though  he  plead 
like  an  angel  of  light.  Nor  can  the  man  who  sets  up 
standards  of  morality  widely  differing  from  the  prevail- 
ing standards,  plead  effectively  for  any  cause,  though  it 
may  have  little  relation  to  his  manner  of  living. 

Nevertheless,  we  must  take  exception  to  Quintilian 's 
' '  good  man, '  ^  as  certain  successful  orators  come  to  mind ; 
or,  indeed,  to  any  sweeping  statement  of  the  sort.  Hon- 
esty compels  us  to  acknowledge  that  many  men  not  good  | 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


315 


have  been  very  successful  speakers,  even  orators.  Much 
seems  to  depend  upon  the  particular  vices  charged.  A 
reputation  for  trickery,  cruelty,  or  treachery  to  women  ^ 
is  usually  destructive  of  popular  influence ;  but  the  repu- 
tation for  hard  drinking  and  carelessness  in  regard  to 
debts  which  ''the  great  Daniel  Webster"  bore  (very  un- 
justly in  both  respects,  we  are  told),  did  not  destroy  an 
influence  which  it  is  an  inspiration  to  study,  nor  prevent 
his  words  being  read  and  pondered,  almost  as  was  the 
Bible,  beside  thousands  of  Northern  hearthstones.  Bet- 
ter than  Quintilian's  saying,  I  like  Emerson's  words,  ''If 
I  should  make  the  shortest  list  of  the  qualifications  of  the 
orator,  I  should  begin  with  manliness,"  and  Beecher's 
pithy  dictum,  "Let  no  sneak  try  to  be  an  orator."  How- 
ever much  the  orator  lacks  of  goodness,  he  will  rarely  be 
found  weak.  The  orator  is  a  leader,  and  weaklings  do 
not  lead. 

Personality.  There  is  an  element  in  the  power  of  a 
speaker,  sometimes  called  "personal  magnetism,"  some- 
times "personality,"  which  can  be  recognized  rather 
than  directly  cultivated.  Why  Alcibiades,  Mirabeau, 
Webster,  Clay;  or,  in  other  fields,  Mahomet,  Napoleon, 
Luther,  Brigham  Young,  and  Stonewall  Jackson,  exer- 
cised the  fascination  they  did  over  men,  has  been  ex- 
plained in  many  ways.  (Read,  if  you  like,  the  chapter 
on  Personality  in  Ross's  Social  Control)  No  explana- 
tion will  entirely  satisfy.  It  is  said  that  the  art  of  fasci- 
nating audiences  can  be  taught  by  mail.  I  will  leave  it 
to  mail  courses,  except  as  this  strange  power  is  com- 
pounded of  the  elements  of  character  and  methods  which 
we  treat  under  other  headings. 

Make  as  much  of  a  mystery  of  "magnetism"  as  we 
please,  it  probably  consists  only  of  an  unusual  combina- 

J  Cf.  Bryce,  American  Commonwealth,  II,  p.  217. 


316 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tion  of  quite  understandable  characteristics.  Great  lead 
ers  have  been  men  of  imagination,  able  to  stir  the  imag- 
ination of  their  followers.  They  have  had  an  under- 
standing of  human  nature  and  a  sympathy  which  have 
enabled  them  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  view-points  and 
experiences  of  others,  to  touch  the  right  motives  and 
arouse  the  right  associations  in  their  minds.  They  have 
been  men  of  strength  and  positiveness  of  character,  know- 
ing precisely  what  they  wished  to  bring  about,  and  very 
determined  to  succeed. 

Personal  appearance  is  an  element  in  personality^. 
Great  stature  is  no  doubt  an  advantage;  but  Webster, 
*Hhe  godlike  Daniel,"  who  was  often  spoken  of  as  a  giant, 
was  of  only  moderate  height,  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
a  leader  of  rare  influence,  whether  before  the  people  or  in 
the  Senate,  w^as  called  ''the  Little  Giant,"  and  was  less 
than  five  feet  in  height.  Since  we  cannot  by  taking 
thought  add  to  our  stature,  discussion  of  height  is  not  of 
importance,  except  as  it  gives  opportunity  to  say  to  those 
who  lack  height :  Do  not  worry  about  the  lack,  and  do 
not  try  to  increase  your  height  by  ^'standing  on  your 
dignity";  in  other  words  do  not  call  attention  to  your 
lack  by  a  strut.  Real  dignity  of  bearing  can,  however, 
be  developed  by  slow  degrees,  by  the  development  of  cour- 
tesy and  self-respect,  supplemented  by  the  physical  train- 
ing described  elsewhere.  In  brief,  let  us  try  to  be  sin- 
cere, straightforward,  self-controlled  gentlemen  on  the 
platform,  and  let  personality  take  care  of  itself. 

We  may  add  a  word  from  Emerson  ^  which  touches  an 
important  matter  to  some  extent  within  our  control: 
/^Perhaps  it  is  the  lowest  of  the  qualities  of  an  orator, 
but  it  is,  on  so  many  occasions,  of  chief  importance, — 
a  certain  robust  and  radiant  physical  health. ' ' 

1  Essay  on  Eloquence. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  S17 


W'f  should  not  be  discouraged  by  the  discovery  that  we  are  not 
"grest  personalities."  Of  course  some  of  us  will  never  sway  audi- 
ences at  will,  but  we  can  make  the  most  of  such  gifts  as  we  have. 
*'Tho  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong." 
I,  in  common  with  every  teacher,  have  seen  sadly  handicapped  young 
men  surpass  their  more  gifted  classmates. 

Fairness.  Nothing  more  certainly  induces  a  fair,  open-  v 
minded  attitude  on  the  part  of  an  audience  than  fair- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  speaker.  We  have  already  seen 
the  good  effect  of  concessions  in  finding  common  ground. 
Fairness  should  be  shown  both  in  the  presentation  of 
one's  own  views  and  in  discussing  the  views  of  an  oppo- 
nent. The  persuader  is  an  advocate.  He  is  expected 
to  state  his  side  as  strongly  as  truth  permits;  but  his 
audience  has  a  right  to  expect  him  to  state  facts  truly 
and  to  refrain  from  sophistry.  To  be  an  advocate  does 
not  give  one  a  right  to  be  other  than  fair  and  honest. 

To  be  fair  is  not  only  right,  but  profitable  in  the  long 
run.  Juries  trusted  ''Honest  Abe''  Lincoln.  Contrast 
the  effect  of  that  name  with  that  of  a  name  for  shrewd- 
ness and  pettifogging.  To  have  one's  tricks  exposed  is 
to  become  discredited. 

In  order  to  be  fair,  first  be^jxasonable.  L(}ok  at  the 
case  of  the  opposition,  instead  of  shutting  your  mind  to 
it.  Do  not,  like  a  schoolboy  debater,  claim  everything 
for  your  side;  but  recognize,  at  least  tacitly,  that  there 
is  truth  on  the  other  side.  Remember  that  we  are  con- 
sidering the  winning  of  those  not  yet  in  agreement. 
Nothing  marks  more  plainly  the  difference  between  the 
mature  and  the  immature  debater  than  the  intolerance 
of  the  latter. 

Courtesy.    Any  exhibition  of  boorishness  upon  the  ; 
platform  will  tend  to  decrease  the  sympathy  of  an  audi- 
ence for  the  speaker;  w^hile  the  speaker  who  is  courteous 
may  say  hard,  stern  things  with  impunity.    Cutting,  sar- 


318 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


castic  remarks  may  sometimes  be  justified,  but  <m,>  n  e 
rarely  persuasive.  They  chill  good  feeling.  Ba(.  te»  r'^r 
should  not  be  mistaken  for  righteous  indignati 
vective  is  for  the  rarest  occasions.  It  would  b<  u  ud 
rule  never  to  say  on  the  platform  anything  de  >ira  cry 
of  an  opponent  which  you  would  not  say  if  y  e 
alone  with  him;  but  one  should  refrain  from  th(  ri- 
alities  which  might  be  proper  enough  in  e. 
Schoolboys  in  debate  often  offend  good  taste  seriously  by 
aiming  at  each  other  remarks  which  pass  as  humor  in 
everyday  intercourse,  but  which  on  the  platform  seem 
mere  insolence.  Do  not  mistake  a  laugh  cheaply  won  by 
blackguardism  for  genuine  approval. 

Your  audience  especially  deserves  courtesy.  It  has 
paid  you  a  compliment  in  giving  you  its  time.  The 
point  needing  most  emphasis  under  this  head  is,  that  you 
should  not  trespass  upon  the  time  of  your  hearers  be- 
yond the  period  allotted  to  you,  either  by  those  in  charge 
of  the  meeting,  or  by  common  understanding. 

Courtesy  does  not  demand  cheap,  insincere  compli- 
ments to  audience  or  community.  A  gracious  compli- 
ment which  is  sincere  and  merited  is  welcome  anywhere ; 
but  no  intelligent  audience  is  likely  to  be  won  by  the 
strained  flattery  with  which  some  speakers  seek  good 
will.  We  may  applaud  perfunctorily,  as  in  duty  bound ; 
but  applause  accompanied  by  knowing  looks  and  the 
nudging  of  neighbors  is  not  evidence  of  persuasive  effect. 

Eespect  for  audiences.  Courtesy  should  not  be  merely 
assumed,  but  should  rest  upon  fairness  of  spirit  and  also 
genuine  respect  for  one's  audience.  Some  over-confident 
young  men  need  to  consider  this  with  care.  The  hum- 
blest audience  deserves  respect.  However  humble  their 
individual  members,  in  the  aggregate  they  constitute  a 
body  to  whom  respect  is  due.    Do  not  waste  their  time ; 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  319 

give  them  a  fair  equivalent.  The  best  way  to  sho^ 
courtesy  and  respect  to  an  audience  is  to  prepare  well 
and  give  them  your  best.  Your  audience  may  be  slow ; 
it  is  likely  to  be  if  not  made  up  of  trained  thinkers. 
Any  audience  may  be  slower  than  a  beginner  thinks  it 
should  be,  for  it  has  not  thought  through  his  subject  in 
most  cases;  but  he  should  not  mistake  slowness  for  stu- 
pidity, or  small  schooling  for  ignorance. 

It  would  be  affectation  to  ignore  the  fact  that  some 
audiences  do  not  represent  a  high  level  of  culture  and 
information ;  yet  rarely  indeed  will  an  audience  be  found 
which  does  not  contain  a  goodly  number  of  members 
who  have  solid  wisdom  and  keen  ability  to  see  through 
fallacies,  though  they  may  not  be  able  to  express  them- 
selves. It  is  never  safe  to  assume  that  all  the  members 
of  an  audience  are  uninformed  on  any  subject. 

Being  asked  to  speak  in  a  small  country  church  on  my  observa- 
tions of  New  York's  East  Side  during  a  residence  of  ten  weeks  in  a 
college  settlement,  I  comforted  myself  with  the  thought  that  I  at 
least  knew  more  of  tenement  life  than  any  of  my  hearers.  After 
my  talk  I  learned  that  two  persons  in  the  audience  had  actually 
lived  in  the  tenements,  and  that  one  lady  had  worked  with  immi- 
grants both  at  Ellis  Island  and  in  a  settlement.  She  said  I  was 
quite  well  informed  considering  my  limited  opportunity  for  ob- 
servation ! 

It  is  difficult  to  tell  the  truth  about  audiences  in  cold 
print,  without  giving  the  essentially  false  impression 
that  they  may  be  freely  manipulated  without  respect  to 
their  mental  powers.  It  is  true  that  men  in  general  are 
not  thinkers,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  that  they 
may  be  controlled  at  times  by  suggestion  and  through 
their  emotions,  and  that  they  have  strong  prejudices. 
It  is  true  that  at  times  they  are  controlled  by  dema- 
gogues, that  they  are  subject  to  panics,  and  form  mobs. 
Still,  though  much  under  the  influence  of  emotion,  their 


S20 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


emotions  are  often  true  guides;  and  though  sometimes 
controlled  by  prejudices  and  inherited  opinions,  these 
are  after  all  the  results  of  the  experience  of  the  race  and 
not  altogether  bad  standards  of  conduct.  And  it  is 
wholesome  to  reflect  that  very  rarely  has  the  speaker  oc- 
casion to  feel  himself  superior  to  his  hearers.  Nothing 
could  be  better  for  the  young  speaker  to  fix  in  his  mem- 
ory than  the  saying  of  that  great  popular  leader,  Lin- 
coln, spoken  out  of  rich  experience:  '^I  always  assume 
that  my  audience  is  in  many  things  w^iser  than  I  am,  and 
I  say  the  most  sensible  things  I  can  to  them.  I  never 
found  that  they  did  not  understand  me.''  Edward 
Everett  Hale  told  a  group  of  students  that  they  should 
remember  that  the  least  educated  man  in  an  audience 
can  conceive  of  a  better  speech  than  the  speaker  can 
make.  We  might  add  that  this  least  educated  man,  in 
the  great  majority  of  cases,  has  heard  better  speeches 
than  the  speaker  can  make. 

Fjew  could  speak  with  more  authority  on  this  subject  than  James 
Bryce.  He  says,  in  his  chapter  on  the  Nature  of  Public  Opinion,i 
that  nineteen  out  of  twenty  persons  do  not  think  out  for  themselves 
public  questions.    But  he  adds : 

"It  is  not  that  these  nineteen  persons  are  incapable  of  appreciat- 
ing good  arguments,  or  unwilling  to  receive  them.  On  the  con- 
trary, and  this  is  especially  true  of  the  working  classes,  an  audience 
is  pleased  when  solid  arguments  are  addressed  to  it.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  *'The  chief  difference  between  the  so-called  upper,  or 
wealthier,  and  the  humbler  strata  of  society  is,  that  the  former  are 
less  influenced  by  sentiment  and  possibly  more  influenced  by  notions, 
Often  erroneous,  of  their  own  interest.  .  .  . 

*''The  apparent  paradox  that  where  the  humbler  classes  have  dif- 
fered in  opinion  from  the  higher,  they  have  often  been  proved  by 
the  event  to  have  been  right  and  their  so-called  betters  wrong  (a 
fact  sufficiently  illustrated  by  the  experience  of  many  European 
countries  during  the  last  half-century),  may  perhaps  be  explained 
by  considering  that  the  historical  and  scientific  d:ila  on  which  the 
solution  of  a  dilFicult  political  problem  depends  are  really  just  as 
little  known  to  the  wealthy  as  to  the  poor.    Ordinary  education, 

1  American  Commonwealth,  IT,  p.  250.  This  work,  especially  the 
second  volume,  is  recommended  to  the  student  who  wishes  a  clear- 
eyed  view  of  American  opinion  and  feeling. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


S21 


even  the  sort  of  education  which  is  represented  by  a  university  de- 
gree, does  not  nt  a  man  to  handle  these  questions,  and  it  sometimes 
tills  him  with  a  vain  conceit  of  his  own  competence  which  closes  his 
mind  to  argument  and  to  the  accumulating  evidence  of  facts.  Edu- 
cation, ought,  no  doubt,  to  enlighten  a  man  ;  but  the  educated  classes, 
speaking  generally,  are  the  property-holding  classes  and  the  pos- 
session of  property  does  more  to  make  a  man  timid  than  education 
does  to  make  him  hopeful.  He  is  apt  to  underrate  the  power  as 
well  as  the  worth  of  sentiment ;  he  over-values  the  restraints  which 
existing  institutions  impose,  he  has  a  faint  appreciation  of  the  cura- 
tive power  of  freedom,  and  of  the  tendency  which  brings  things 
right  when  men  have  been  left  to  their  own  devices,  and  have  learnt 
from  failure  how  to  attain  success.  In  the  less-educated  man  a 
certain  simplicity  and  openness  of  mind  go  some  way  to  compen- 
sate for  the  lack  of  knowledge.  He  is  more  apt  to  be  influenced 
by  the  authority  of  leaders;  but  as,  at  least  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica, he  is  generally  shrewd  enough  to  discern  between  a  great  man 
and  a  demagogue,  this  is  more  a  gain  than  a  loss." 

There  have  been  few  stronger  speakers  in  America  in  recent 
years,  either  in  the  Senate  or  on  the  stump,  than  Senator  Jonathan 
P.  Doliiver.  He  declared  i  "that  whoever  would  deal  with  the  mod- 
ern American  mass-meeting  must  put  into  the  preparation  of  his 
speech  time  and  labor  without  stint  or  grudging."    He  said  further : 

''The  stump  has  been  the  last  field  of  oratory  to  submit  to  the  ex- 
actions of  toil  and  care  and  unremitting  attention  to  details.  This 
has  been  partly  the  fault  of  the  public,  which  has  allowed  itself  to 
be  imposed  upon  by  patiently  receiving  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
speeches.  The  schoolhouse  and  the  newspapers  have  gone  far  to 
restore  even  the  remote  rural  districts  to  their  natural  rights  in  these 
matters.  Charles  James  Fox  once  said  that  however  humble  his 
audience  he  always  felt  it  was  his  duty  to  do  his  best.  That  course 
was  a  good  thing  for  the  audience  and  undoubtedly  a  good  thing  for 
the  orator,  for  in  no  art  is  it  ever  safe  for  a  man  to  fall  below  the 
best  that  is  in  him. 

"The  time  has  come  in  the  United  States  when  no  community  is 
so  remote  that  it  does  not  demand  a  high  order  of  public  speak- 
ing. .  .  .  The  stump  speaker  of  to-day  has  a  good  many  competi- 
tors, and  it  behooves  him  to  bring  his  audience  fresh  knowledge, 
or  at  least  the  old,  familiar  knowledge  dressed  up  so  that  its  friends 
will  be  glad  to  renew  its  acquaintance.  .  .  . 

"The  democracy  of  England  and  America  is  no  fierce  mob  bewil- 
dered by  the  babble  of  tongues  or  the  scribble  of  pens." 

Do  not,  above  all  things,  try  to  patronize  or  ''talk 
down"  To  any  audience.  Beware  of  the  wheedling  cir- 
cumflexed  tones  which  imply,  ''Now,  my  dear  good  peo- 
ple, living  far  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  it  must  be  a 
real  treat  to  have  me  come  and  enlighten  your  igno- 

1  Saturday  Eventing  Post,  May  25,  1901,  p.  7. 


322 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ranee."  You  did  not,  years  ago,  enjoy  speeches  such  as 
Mark  Twain  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Sunday  School 
superintendent  in  Tom  Sawyer: 

''Now,  children,  I  want  you  all  to  sit  just  as  straight 
and  pretty  as  you  can  and  give  me  all  your  attention  for 
a  minute  or  two.  There — that  is  it.  That  is  the  way 
good  little  boys  and  girls  should  do.  ...  I  want  to  tell 
you  how  good  it  makes  me  feel  to  see  so  many  bright 
clean  little  faces  assembled  in  a  place  like  this,  learning 
to  do  right  and  be  good.  ..." 

You  should  use  words  not  unfamiliar,  but  this  does 
not  require  bad  or  childish  English.  The  Bible  is  a 
model  of  pure  English,  but  its  language  is  plain  to 
the  simplest  man.  Professor  Austin  Phelps  has  well 
said :  ^ 

''The  common  people  like  to  be  addressed  in  sound 
old  English  which  has  the  centuries  behind  it.  They 
desire  it  to  be  plain,  direct,  strong,  racy,  but  they  never 
as  a  body  desire  it  to  be  low.  ...  A  rabble  in  the  street 
will  often  hoot  if  they  are  addressed  in  bad  grammar. 
Patrick  Henry  sought  to  win  the  favor  of  the  backwoods- 
men of  Virginia  by  imitating  their  colloquial  dialect,  of 
which  his  biographer  gives  the  following  specimen  from 
one  of  his  speeches,  'AH  the  larnin  upon  the  yairth  are 
not  to  be  compared  with  naiteral  pairts.'  But  his  hear- 
ers, backwoodsmen  though  they  were,  knew  better  than 
that ;  and  they  knew  that  a  statesman  of  the  Old  Domin- 
ion ought  to  speak  good  English.  They  were  his  severest 
critics.  The  common  people  know  good  English  when 
they  hear  it ;  they  understand  it ;  men  crave  it  who  never 
use  it.  In  their  unconscious  criticism  of  a  speaker,  his 
right  to  their  heading  depends  on  his  ability  to  say  some- 
thing worth  their  hearing ;  and  one  of  the  first  evidences 
they  look  for  of  that  ability  is  that  he  speaks  better  Eng- 
lish than  they  do. ' ' 

1  Phelps  and  Frink,  Rhetoric,  p.  17. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


323 


And,  mind  you,  respect  for  audiences  must  be  felt. 
Do  not  doubt  that  we  reveal  in  our  speeches  many 
things  we  would  not,  and  perhaps  are  unconscious  of, — 
peevishness,  egotism,  weakness,  contempt.  The  snob  will 
show  himself  in  his  speech  as  well  as  the  hypocrite. 

Modesty.  We  like  a  speaker  who  knows  his  own 
mihL3r'an3rspeaks  with  the  note  of  strong  conviction,  but 
we  resent  any  touch  of  strut  or  bullying.  Franklin,  in 
criticizing  one  of  the  appeals  of  the  American  colonies 
to  the  king  for  a  redress  of  grievances,  advised  a  more 
manly  style.  Said  he,  'Firmness  carries  weight :  a  strut 
never  does.'  When  we  detect  the  'strut'  in  discourse, 
we  are  instinctively  aroused  to  cavil  and  criticize. ' '  ^ 
There  are  men  who  make  excellent  arguments,  yet  feel- 
ing, perhaps  justly,  their  superiority  as  thinkers,  they 
let  a  note  creep  into  their  voices  which  says,  ''Now  is  n't 
that  clever?"  and,  "Haven't  I  shown  you  how  foolish 
you  are  ? ' '  and  this  awakens  a  rebellion  in  their  hearers. 
It  is  hard  for  such  men  to  be  '  ^  convincing  speakers  whom 
one  does  not  resent. ' ' 

Do  not  make  a  parade  of  knowledge.  Usually  an  audi- 
ence is  glad  to  be  informed,  and  is  willing  to  acknowl- 
edge any  advantages  their  speaker  may  possess  over 
them;  but  they  are  quick  to  resent  any  suggestion  of 
showing  off.  "He  thinks  he  knows  it  all,"  is  often 
heard.  The  young  college  man,  however  modest,  is  likely 
to  be  under  suspicion  in  this  respect. 

Modesty  does  not  require  apologies  for  one 's  unworthi- 
ness  to  speak  to  one's  audience,  or  upon  the  subject 
chosen.  There  are  times  when  apologies  are  due,  per- 
haps, but  occasion  for  them  should  be  avoided  when  pos- 
sible. Apologies  for  lack  of  preparation  are  especially 
objectionable.    If  an  audience  forces  one  to  speak  with- 

1  Phelps  and  Frink,  Rhetoric^  p.  195. 


324  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

out  opportunity  for  preparation,  no  apologies  are  due, 
though  one  might  wish  to  make  an  explanation  in  self- 
defense.  Apologies  under  other  circumstances  are  often 
equivalent  to  telling  the  audience  that  they  have  not 
been  considered  worth  effort.  Worst  of  all,  apology  for 
lack  of  preparation  is  often  only  a  way  of  bragging :  the 
speaker  seems  to  say,  ''See  what  I  can  do  without  half 
trying;  just  imagine  what  I  might  do  if  I  should  really 
try ! ' '  Much  of  this  apologizing  comes  from  the  foolish 
desire  to  give  the  impression  that  one  is  speaking  im- 
promptu. 

Never  make  an  apology  that  is  not  sincere.  A  young 
man  called  upon  to  address  the  veterans  of  the  Civil 
War,  might  sincerely  wish  to  compare  his  inexperience 
with  their  experience.  It  would  not  be  an  apology,  but 
a  way  of  paying  a  compliment  to  his  hearers.  When 
Robert  Ingersoll  began  a  lecture  on  Shakespeare  by  say- 
ing he  felt  like  a  man  trying  to  bear  up  an  enormous 
globe  which  quite  exceeded  his  grasp,  it  was  only  a  way 
of  expressing  his  sense  of  the  greatness  of  Shakespeare. 
In  general,  one  should  not  attempt  a  theme  he  is  not 
qualified  to  speak  upon  before  the  given  audience.  In 
any  case,  having  accepted  the  ][nvitation,  he  should  give 
such  time  to  preparation  as  he  can,  and  then  no  apology 
is  needed. 

There  is  a  conflict  of  opinion  between  those  who  believe  that  a 
speaker  should  speak  with  the  utmost  self-confidence  and  those 
who  hold  for  a  more  modest  attitude.  Senator  Beveridge  says  very 
positively  :  i 

''Not  one  immortal  utterance  can  be  produced  which  contains 
such  expressions  as,  'I  may  be  wrong,'  or,  'In  my  humble  judg- 
ment,' or,  'In  my  judgment.'  The  great  speakers,  in  their  higliest 
moments,  have  always  been  so  charged  with  aggressive  convictions 
that  they  announce  their  conclusions  as  ultimate  truths.  They 
speak  'as  one  having  authority,'  and  therefore,  'the  common  people 
hear  them  gladly.'  " 

1  Keed's  Modern  Eloquence,  Introduction  to  Vol,  XII. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


325 


However  true  this  may  be  of  "great  speakers,  in  their  highest 
moments,"  one  is  not  always  delivering  "immortal  utterances." 
Certainly  Lincoln  was  a  great  leader,  yet  he  often  spoke  with  hu- 
mility, calling  himself  ''a  humble  man,"  and  taking  the  utmost  pains 
to  explain  his  conclusions.  He  was  always  respectful  of  the  opin- 
ions of  othei*s ;  and  even  when  President,  and  when  delivering  his 
addresses  which  Senator  Beveridge  says  will  live,  he  never  spoke 
in  an  aggressive  ex-cathedra  manner.  Read  the  Gettysburg  Ad- 
dress and  the  two  inaugural  addresses.  He  speaks  with  unassum- 
ing dignity,  as  the  President,  but  as  one  who  rather  minimizes  than 
magnifies  his  authority.  There  is  not  the  voice  of  command,  but 
that  of  a  father  to  his  elder  children. 

I  will  quote  again  from  wise  old  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  knew 
how  to  manage  men.  He  tells  us  in  his  Autohiography,  that  he  as  a 
youth  practised  the  Socratic  method  of  argument,  much  to  the  dis- 
comfiture of  others. 

"I  practised  this  method  for  some  years,  but  gradually  left  it,  re- 
taining only  the  habit  of  expressing  myself  in  terms  of  modest  dif- 
fidence, never  using  when  I  advance  anything  that  may  possibly 
be  disputed,  the  words  certainly,  undoubtedly  .  .  .  ;  but  rather 
say,  /  conceive,  or  apprehend,  a  thing  to  be  so  and  so :  It  appears  to 
me,  or  /  should  not  think  it  so  and  so,  for  such  and  such  reasons; 
or  /  imagine  it  to  he  so;  or  It  is  so,  if  I  am  not  mistaken.  This 
habit,  I  believe,  has  been  of  great  advantage  to  me  when  I  have  had 
occasion  to  inculcate  my  opinions  and  persuade  men  into  measures 
that  I  have  been  from  time  to  time  engaged  in  promoting.  ...  I 
wish  well-meaning  and  sensible  men  would  not  lessen  their  power 
of  doing  good  by  a  positive  assuming  manner,  that  seldom  fails  to 
disgust,  tends  to  create  opposition,  and  to  defeat  most  of  those  pur- 
poses for  which  speech  was  given  us." 

Following  Franklin's  policy,  we  should  not  attempt  to  lay  down 
any  positive  rule  on  this  matter.  Much  depends  upon  the  situation. 
In  leading  a  great  mass  of  men,  who  are  more  or  less  suggestible 
and  largely  in  harmony  with  the  speaker,  the  positive  assertion  may 
be  best ;  but  in  winning  over  thinking  men  Franklin's  way  is  usually 
better.  Much  depends  also  upOn  the  speaker.  Most  of  us  had 
best  leave  the  hurling  of  thunderbolts  to  the  Luthers  and  Mirabeaus. 

Modesty,  like  other  personal  characteristics,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  delivery  as  well  as  of  composition.  I  recall  a 
student  who  was  ' '  drilling ' '  a  speech  on  war.  His  man- 
ner implied  strongly  that  his  audience  was  very  wrong 
in  their  militaristic  leanings  and  that  he  was,  rather  re- 
bukingly,  setting  them  right.  He  admitted  that  this 
was  his  feeling.    But  after  several  critics  had  objected, 


326 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


he  was  brought  to  see  that  he  was  a  very  young  man, 
talking  to  many  presumably  wiser  in  general;  and  that 
it  was  more  becoming  to  him  to  submit  his  ideas  for  our 
consideration,  vigorously  and  self -respectfully,  but  yet 
modestly.  He  had  a  notable  success;  yet  he  did  not 
change  a  word  of  his  speech. 

Self-respect.  If  the  circumflexed  tones  of  condescen- 
sion are  objectionable,  even  less  persuasive  are  the  cir- 
cumflexes of  one  who  holds  himself  too  cheaply.  No 
audience  will  give  respectful  attention  to  one  who  does 
not  respect  himself.  It  will  scorn  the  man  who  lacks  the 
courage  of  his  own  convictions,  and  who  seems  to  be 
begging  his  audience  to  tolerate  him  and  his  ideas.  One 
may  be  sure  that  such  an  attitude  did  not  go  with  Frank- 
lin's  modest  phrases.  No  suggestion  regarding  modesty, 
courtesy  or  tact,  should  be  taken  to  mean  that  a  speaker 
should  fawn  upon  his  audience.  An  audience  respects 
manliness  above  all  things,  and  has  far  more  regard  for 
a  good  fighter  than  for  a  devotee  of  ''soft  soap." 
Beecher,  in  his  lecture  on  Oratory,  speaks  of  throwing  a 
sop  to  the  Cerberus  of  envy,  prejudice  and  jealousy 
which  guards  the  gate  to  men's  minds;  but  no  one  who 
knows  his  career,  and  especially  knows  his  speech  in 
Liverpool  in  1863,  which  has  become  the  standard  ex- 
ample of  a  manful,  yet  tactful  fight  with  a  hostile  audi- 
ence, will  think  that  he  meant  any  unmanly  fawning. 

Self-respect  demands,  too,  that  although  the  speaker 
must  reveal  himself  frankly,  he  must  not  become  unduly 
familiar  or  sacrifice  his  personal  dignity.  I  recall  hear- 
ing a  candidate  who  was  running  for  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  State  in  California,  making  a  stump  speech  in 
his  college  town.  Unfortunately  his  reputation  lingered 
and  the  audience  began  calling  for  one  of  his  old 
''stunts.''   He  was  reluctant,  but  finally  gave  us  a  song 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


527 


and  dance.  The  crowd  enjoyed  the  act,  but  I  doubt  if  a 
single  applauder  felt  that  this  was  the  man  to  be  elected 
to  a  high  office. 

I  am  glad  to  believe  that  there  is  no  reason  why  one,  from  the 
low  standpoint  of  expediency,  should  sacrifice  his  self-respect  and 
dignity  before  the  American  electorate.  A  certain  wealthy  and 
dandified  young  man  in  a  New  York  state  district  became  a  candi- 
date for  Congress.  He  put  aside  his  fine  raiment  and  went  among 
the  farmers  in  a  scare-crow  costume.  Outraged  by  this  affront  to 
their  intelligence,  they  *'snowed  him  under'*  at  the  polls.  By  the 
way,  how  should  he  have  dressed? 

Good  humor.  Better  than  humor  is  good  humor, 
which  enables  us  to  meet  all  sorts  of  situations,  however 
strained  or  awkward,  with  a  smile.  Good  humor  is  a  foil 
for  the  most  dangerous  attacks  of  an  opponent,  and  is  the 
surest  means  of  winning  over  a  hostile  audience.  Good 
humor,  too,  is  consistent  with  dignity  and  seriousness  of 
purpose.  Besides,  though  many  of  us  can  never  succeed 
as  wits,  we  can  all  cultivate  good  humor.  And  it  needs 
cultivation,  for  geniality  is  rather  generally  lacking  in 
young  speakers. 

How  much  more  effective  than  a  tart  tu  quoque,  or  you  *re  an- 
other, was  Lowell's  whimsical  way  of  reminding  the  British  that 
they  had  the  quality  they  criticized  in  us.    (See  p.  310.) 

The  worst  thing  a  speaker  can  do  ordinarily  is  to  show 
anger.  It  is  a  favorite  trick  of  debaters  and  advocates 
to  drive  an  opponent  into  a  display  of  wrath.  This  not 
only  destroys  his  authority  with  the  audience,  but  is 
likely  to  cause  him  to  make  damaging,  absurd  or  conflict- 
ing statements.  There  is  great  force  in  righteous  indig- 
nation when  a  strong  man,  for  a  proper  cause,  boils  over 
with  wrath ;  but  do  not  have  a  low  boiling  point. 

Interruptions  from  the  floor  try  the  temper  of  the 
stump  speaker;  but  if  he  keeps  good  natured  he  can 


328 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


usually  be  sure  of  having  the  sympathy  of  the  audience, 
who  will  not  demand  a  very  high  grade  of  answer.  If  he 
loses  his  temper  he  will  usually  find  himself  in  their  bad 
graces. 

Lincoln  in  the  debates  with  Douglas  came,  as  was  natural  undei* 
the  long  strain,  to  some  pretty  sharp  encounters  with  his  able  and 
audacious  antagonist ;  but  never  was  his  good  nature  destroyed, 
though  he  was  sorely  tried  and  we  find  him  saying  in  the  Ottawa 
debate,  "It  is  fortunate  for  me  that  I  can  keep  as  good-humored 
as  I  do,  when  the  judge  acknowledges  he  has  been  trying  to  make 
a  question  of  veracity  with  me."  When  he  finds  it  necessary  to 
rebuke  Douglas  for  misrepresenting  his  views  on  the  proper  position 
of  the  negro,  he  does  so  in  a  way  which  is  good-humored,  but  at  the 
same  time  makes  the  Judge  understand  that  Lincoln  is  not  all  meek- 
ness :  "Anything  that  argues  me  into  his  idea  of  perfect  social 
and  political  equality  with  the  negro  is  but  a  specious  and  fantastic 
arrangement  of  words,  by  which  a  man  can  prove  a  horse-chestnut 
to  be  a  chestnut  horse."  When  he  is  interrupted  by  a  rowdy  with 
"Put  on  your  specs,"  in  allusion  to  his  difficulty  in  reading,  he 
replies  simply,  "Yes,  sir,  I  am  obliged  to  do  so;  I  am  no  longer 
a  young  man." 

Manifestly  good  humor  is  helpful  in  maintaining  fair- 
ness, courtesy,  and  self-control. 

Self-control.  It  is  a  truism  that  ''To  be  a  master  of  a 
situation  a  man  must  first  be  master  of  himself."  We 
instinctively  turn  for  guidance  to  men  of  poise,  who  are 
not  only  unruffled  under  provocation,  but  also  calm  in  a 
crisis;  not,  however,  to  the  man  who  is  cool  from  indif- 
ference, but  to  the  man  who  under  strong  feeling  yet 
remains  master  of  his  powers.  Such  a  man  on  the 
platform  will  be  able  to  speak  with  an  authority  never 
granted  to  one  whose  control  is  easily  destroyed.  He 
will  also  be  able  to  think  of  the  right  thing  to  say  when 
it  should  be  said,  not  next  day ;  and  to  judge  the  mood 
of  his  audience,  whether  assenting  or  resisting,  and  in 
^very  way  to  adapt  himself  to  the  situation. 

Sympathy.    Whatever  a  speaker's  purpose  he  needs 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  S29 


sympathy,  in  order  that  he  may  understand  what  his 
hearers  are  interested  in,  what  motives  move  them,  what 
beliefs  and  prejudices  they  have.  Not  only  must  the 
speaker  understand  human  nature,  he  should  have  a  fel- 
low feeling  for  those  whom  he  addresses.  And  not  only 
should  he  have  this  feeling,  but  he  should  be  able  to  mani- 
fest it,  to  seem  a  friendly  man,  interested  in  those  he 
addresses. 

To  be  sympathetic,  to  put  one's  self  in  the  other  fellow's 
place,  one  needs  imagination.  We  recall,  in  this  con- 
nection, that  imagination  must  have  material  with  which 
to  work;  and  this  gives  opportunity  to  emphasize  again 
the  advantage  of  wide  experience  and  wide  knowledge 
of  many  kinds  of  men.  And,  having  material,  the 
speaker  in  his  preparation  should  definitely  exercise 
imagination  upon  it,  in  order  to  realize  the  situation  and 
the  feelings  of  those  to  be  addressed. 

Tact.    The  speaker  who  is  fair,  reasonable,  courteous 
and  modest,  who  has  a  sense  of  humor  and  maintains 
good  humor,  and  who,  above  all,  is  sympathetic,  will  prob- 
ably have  tact, — ^'the  ability  to  do  or  say  the  right  thing 
at  the  right  moment,  or  better,  to  avoid  doing  or  saying 
the  wrong  thing."    Tact  seems  to  be  a  gift  granted  to 
some  and  denied  to  others,  but  the  worst  blunderer  should 
I  be  able  to  improve.    The  way  to  go  about  it  is  to  study 
,  other  people  and  cultivate  consideration  for  their  feel- 
I  ings.    One  cannot  be  tactful  by  rule,  and  a  manifest 
effort  to  be  tactful  is  not  tactful.   There  must  be  a  sym- 
,  pathetic  understanding.    Much  of  the  preceding  discus- 
sion of  persuasion  might  be  placed  under  the  heading  of 
I  tact,  but  a  few  special  suggestions  may  be  helpful. 
I     Sympathetic  understanding  is  more  than  just  being 
kindly  disposed  toward  others.    We  all  know  people  as 
inept  as  the  Newfoundland  puppy  who  shows  his  affec- 


330 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tion  by  planting  his  muddy  paws  on  his  master's  dress 
clothes.  Tact  involves  both  good  feeling  and  under- 
standing. 

We  all  know  people  who  call  general  attention  to  one's  defects 
and  failures,  who  heap  moral  precepts  upon  us  when  we  are  merry 
or  angry ;  who  try  to  soothe  us  as  angry  children  when  we  think 
we  are  filled  with  righteous  indignation;  who  insist  on  rehearsing 
their  successes  when  we  are  sore  over  defeats ;  who  put  us  in  the 
wrong  without  leaving  an  opening  for  our  wounded  pride  to  es- 
cape; who  come  fairly  oozing  pity  for  our  ignorance  and  desire  to 
set  us  right,  and  proceed  to  tell  us  what  we  should  be  fools  not  to 
know.  Then  there  is  the  student  who  comes  in  to  say,  "Professor, 
I  have  got  to  be  excused  to-day,"  or  *'I  must  pass  this  course" ;  or 
to  say  that  the  work  for  which  he  was  conditioned  was  unessential ; 
or  that  he  is  being  *'held  up  on  a  technicality" ;  or  perhaps,  very 
kindly,  *'I  find  this  paragraph  of  yours  rather  muddy."  Now,  one 
who  does  not  realize  that  these  things  are  tactless  and  that  such 
remarks  make  it  hard  for  one  with  the  best  of  intentions  to  keep 
exclusive  attention  upon  the  matter  in  hand,  who  cannot  feel,  for 
instance,  the  difference  between  the  remark  last  quoted  and,  "I  do 
not  understand  this  paragraph,"  should  surely  give  much  attention 
to  his  tactfulness. 

..^-^Be  careful  of  convicting  your  audience  of  ignorance. 

'A  student  speaker  began :  believe  many  are  ignorant 
of  what  forestry  really  is,  and  I  wish  to  tell  you."  The 
statement  was  correct  but  unnecessary,  prompting  the  re- 
action :  '  *  Well,  let 's  see  if  you  know  so  much. ' '  Another 
student  speaking  of  the  campus  provoked  the  question. 
Don't  you  think  we  have  seen  the  campus?''  He  was 
right  in  assuming  that  we  had  not  really  seen  the  campuSj 
with  eyes  open  to  its  beauties;  but  a  tactful  speakei; 
would  have  reminded  us  of  things  half  seen,  rather  thar 
told  of  them  as  new.  A  young  man  talking  to  Civil  Wai 
veterans,  would  do  well  in  presenting  facts  outside  their 
range  of  information,  to  ascribe  them  to  his  authority 
preferably  one  of  their  generation;  or  he  may  tell  o: 
newly  discovered  evidence. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  SSI 

I  do  not  mean  that  a  speaker  need  hesitate  to  give 
information  needed,  and  to  do  so  in  the  most  direct  way, 
in  most  eases ;  but  he  should  avoid  humiliating  his  hear- 
ers. Student  speakers  should  give  this  matter  some  at- 
tention, for  they  do  not  always  distinguish  between 
preparing  a  speech  and  preparing  a  report  in  economics, 
in  which  they  naturally  wish  to  appear  as  wise  as  possible. 

Do  not^  put  your  audience  hopelessly  in  the  wrong. 
You  know  the  man  who  in  an  argument  is  crammed  full 
of  facts  and  authorities,  has  an  appalling  memory,  de- 
molishes your  every  point  with  relentless  logic,  leaving 
you  not  a  leg  to  stand  on  and  triumphantly  forcing  you 
to  yield, — but  no,  you  refuse  to  surrender.  You  take 
refuge  in  some  side  issue,  you  refuse  to  accept  his 
authorities  or  believe  his  statements;  you  turn  to  such 
personalities  as,  *'Well,  if  you  know  so  much,"  or,  ''Of 
course  we  are  all  fools  and  knaves'' ;  you  do  many  things 
you  are  ashamed  of  rather  than  acknowledge  his  triumph. 
If  he  would  generously  acknowledge  your  correctness  so 
far  as  you  are  correct,  and  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
your  viewpoints  and  feelings,  you  would  promptly  yield. 

The  speaker's  business  will  sometimes  be  to  prove 
that  the  majority  of  his  audience  are  in  the  wrong,  but 
he  need  not  insist  that  they  are  altogether  wrong.  They 
will  not  be  on  any  debatable  question,  and  many  of  their 
errors  are  of  no  account  anyway.  Sometimes  one  may 
ignore  their  errors  and  tacitly  assume  that  they  hold 
correct  views.  In  any  case,  one  should  not  make  his 
attack  more  personal  than  is  necessary,  and  foreclose 
the  whole  case  by  treating  all  who  differ  as  fools,  bigots, 
or  knaves.  ''I  am  sorry  for  such  a  narrow-minded 
person,"  said  a  young  speaker,  referring  to  any  one  who 
held  the  opposite  view.  I  recall  a  speech  upon  the 
''popular  review  of  judicial  decisions,"  which  implied 


B32 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


that  all  who  favored  the  plan  were  rascals  intent  upon 
wrecking  the  courts  and  our  whole  governmental  system. 
After  I  had  convinced  this  speaker  that  the  advocates  of 
the  plan  were  patriotic  men,  he  came  back  with  a  speech 
which  acknowledged  that  they  might  mean  well,  but 
implied  that  they  were  very  silly.  As  between  being 
called  a  fool  or  a  knave  most  of  us  would  prefer  the  latter 
epithet  But  epithets  are  not  necessary;  certainly  not 
for  one 's  audience. 

Consider  the  case  of  a  young  man,  just  out  of  college,  addressing 
elderly  people  and  expressing  contempt  for  their  ideas  and  customs ; 
referring  to  the  religious  ideas  to  which  they  were  trained  as  old 
fogyism,  and  exhibiting  pride  in  his  own  advanced  ideas.  *'All 
that  is  overthrown,"  he  says ;  "Professor  Conclusions  has  provea, 
etc.  Nobody  believes  that  w^ay  now.''  None  but  a  boor  would  talk 
that  way,  do  you  say?  I  have  heard  young  men,  ordinarily  courte- 
ous, talking  that  way.  No  one  is  so  illiberal  toward  the  views  of 
others  as  your  young  liberal. 

Must  one  pass  over  the  errors  of  his  hearers  ?   Not  at , 
all.   Prove  them  wrong.   Bring  the  facts  and  the  argu- 
ments and  prove  their  beliefs  wrong.  But  don't  triumpi 
over  them  too  much;  let  them  acknowledge  they  arc 
wrong.  Don 't '  ^  rub  it  in. ' ' 

There  is  generous  admission  implied  in  this  statement  of  a  mia 
Bionary  to  a  Confucian,  which  makes  the  advice  more  palatable  1 
"You  need  the  power  of  Christ  to  enable  you  to  obey  Confucius." 

A  hint  may  be  taken  from  an  article  entitled.  Cleaning  up  th^ 
American  City :  How  Mrs.  Caroline  Bartlett  does  it.i  Mrs.  Bart- 
lett  went  to  Montgomery  to  make  a  *'survoy."  She  did  her  work, 
and  then  called  a  meeting,  to  which  came  city  officials,  dairymen, 
bakers  and  others  quick  to  resent  criticisms,  especially  from  an  out- 
mder.  "Tactfully  she  put  her  compliments  first, — the  gratified  citi- 
zens learned  that  their  water  supply  was  excellent,  their  sewer  sy» 
tern  and  street  cleaning  work  good,  the  refuse  collection  exceptional 
They  beamed  as  they  were  congratulated  upon  the  remarkably  gooc 
work  done  by  their  health  officials.  .  .  .  Then  they  listened  coura« 
geously  while  the  speaker  revealed  the  conditions  in  the  bakeries, 
some  of  the  schoolhouses,  and  the  city  jail.    There  was  great  ex* 

1  American  Magazine,  September,  1913.  < 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  223 


citement  after  Mrs.  Bartlett  left,  but  the  officials  and  the  women's 
clubs  went  to  work  in  accordance  with  her  advice." 

Do  not  unnecessarily  stir  up  prejudices.  A  speaker 
must  often  boldly  face  prejudices ;  but  there  is  no  good 
reason  for  stirring  these  up  unnecessarily,  and  especially 
those  not  involved  in  the  issuer 

On  the  Saturday  preceding  the  election  of  1884,  Dr.  Burchard 
made  a  speech  for  Blaine  in  New  York  City,  in  which  he  declared, 
"Democracy  stands  for  Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion."  Within 
an  hour  it  was  spread  over  the  city,  by  means  of  chalk,  placard 
and  newspaper,  that  a  Republican  speaker  had  attacked  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  Blaine,  whose  own  wife  was  a  Roman  Catholic, 
dared  make  no  statement,  fearing  Protestant  prejudice.  Cleveland 
carried  New  York  State  and  with  it  the  presidency,  by  only  eleven 
hundred  votes,  and  many  think  Blaine's  defeat  was  due  to  this  un- 
guarded sentence  of  his  advocate. 

No  better  speech  for  the  study  of  tact  will  be  found  than  Booker 
T.  Washington's  address  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition.  This  will  be 
found,  with  the  enthusiastic  comments  of  Southern  white  men,  in 
Washington's  Up  from  Slavery,  which  contains  also  many  wise  ob- 
servations on  speech-making,  and  especially  on  tactful  adaptation 
to  the  audience.  The  speech,  with  an  account  of  the  occasion  and 
its  success,  will  also  be  found  in  Baker's  Forms  of  PuMic  Address, 
See  also  in  the  same  text,  Phillips  Brooks's  speech  on  the  Fourth 
of  July  delivered  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Do  not  put  every  suggestion  on  the  plane  of  duty. 

There  is  surely  occasion  for  preaching,  for  exhortation  to 
duty ;  yet  we  do  well  to  limit  this  so  far  as  we  can  without 
sacrificing  definiteness  of  suggestion.  One  becomes  in- 
different to  duties  when  he  is  told  of  them  too  constantly ; 
as  here  in  this  college  world,  that  it  is  one 's  duty  to  sup- 
port every  conceivable  activity,  to  cultivate  the  acquaint- 
ance of  all  sorts  of  men,  to  saturate  one's  self  with  music, 
to  read  good  books  every  available  fifteen  minutes, 
to  attend  the  special  lectures,  to  live,  in  short,  an  im- 
possibly strenuous  life.  One  wonders  why  duty  is  the 
only  motive  appealed  to,  and  why  nothing  is  presented 
as  a  pleasure  or  an  advantage. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


A  speaker  wishing  to  secure  support  for  the  children's  gardens 
movement,  began  with  our  duty  to  the  poor.  Had  he  interested  us 
in  the  children  and  the  work  that  has  been  accomplished,  his  plea 
would  have  been  more  effective ;  we  might  have  wished  to  help,  or 
even  offered  to  help.  A  speaker,  earnestly  wishing  to  induce  a  group 
of  students  to  interest  themselves  in  the  lonesome,  detached  members 
of  the  community,  began  with  a  vigorous  denunciation  of  the  gen- 
eral indifference.  He  improved  his  speech  much  by  first  setting  be- 
fore us  the  situation,  winning  our  sympathy  by  specific  examples. 

We  recognize  that  much  depends  npon  the  relation  of 
a  speaker  to  his  audience.  In  the  case  just  mentioned,  a 
student  speaking  to  students  on  student  duty  would  be 
less  likely  to  provoke  a  resisting  spirit  than  would  a 
member  of  the  faculty.  Sometimes  a  position  of  author- 
ity enables  one  to  urge  duty  more  acceptably ;  sometimes 
less  acceptably.  We  are  more  willing  to  take  preaching 
from  a  preacher  than  from  one  without  special  license  to 
urge  duties  upon  us.  We  take  it  more  kindly  from  the 
old  than  from  the  young.  A  speaker  accepted  by  an 
audience  as  a  friend  or  a  trusted  counselor  can  venture 
to  give  advice  that  would  be  resented  coming  from 
another.  Yet  tlie  man  of  age  and  position  is  apt  to  speak 
with  deference.  A  well  developed  sense  ' '  of  the  general 
fitness  of  things"  is  a  great  asset  to  the  speaker. 

Roosevelt's  African  and  European  Addresses  furnishes  a  basis 
for  an  interesting  study  of  tact,  especially  the  speech  before  the  Na- 
tional University  at  Cairo  and  the  address  at  the  Guildhall  in  Lon- 
don, in  both  of  which  he  attempts,  with  apparent  success,  to  advise 
other  peoples  how  to  manage  their  affairs. 

It  is  folly  to  lay  down  precise  rules.  At  times  the  most  direct 
announcement  possible  or  the  most  direct  exhortation  is  best.  We 
do  not  like  manifest  ^'beating  about  the  bush."  If  a  student  speaker 
has  as  his  purpose  to  raise  money  for  an  unfortunate  fellow  student, 
which  will  be  more  effective  with  you  :  to  announce  his  purpose  at 
once,  or  after  describing  the  case?  How  will  the  occasion  affect 
the  problem?  Suppose  the  occasion  to  be  the  banquet  of  a  society 
to  which  the  unfortunate  does  not  belong?  A  class  in  public 
speaking?  A  meeting  of  the  class  or  college  to  which  the  unfor- 
tunate does  belong? 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  SS5 


Do  not  suppose  that  tact  is  necessary  only  when  dealing  with 
the  especially  bigoted.  A  college  faculty  is  made  up  of  men  with 
more  than  average  training  in  the  open-minded  consideration  of 
problems ;  yet  tact  is  needed  in  faculty  meetings.  Of  a  certain 
distinguished  professor's  speeches  in  faculty  debates,  a  colleague 
says :  We  admired  his  diction,  his  logic,  his  splendid  an'ange- 
ment ;  and  we  had  to  admit  that  in  his  attacks  upon  certain  student 
activities  he  was  to  a  great  extent  right.  But  he  was  so  tactless 
that  he  never  won  a  vote.  He  spoke  as  in  a  vacuum.  I  have  heard 
X  [naming  a  scientist]  say,  'He  was  often  right,  but  I  never  voted 
with  him.'  "  As  a  result  of  long  contact  with  scientists  and  schol- 
ars, I  testify  that,  outside  of  their  special  fields,  they  reason  more 
calmly,  but  only  a  little  more  calmly,  than  the  ''average  man." 

Tact  calls  for  nice  distinctions  in  the  use  of  allusions 
and  words.  We  have  already  noted  the  effect  of  unfortu- 
nate illustrations.  Tactlessness  is  often  due  to  the  blun- 
dering of  one  of  limited  vocabulary,  or  of  one  who  does 
not  feel  the  difference  between  expressions;  as,  for 
example,  between  we  ought,  and  you  ought,  we  are  wrong 
and  you  are  wrong,  I  have  proved  and  I  have  tried  to 
prove  to  you.  I  must  confess  that,  when  sitting  as  a 
debate  judge,  the  expression,  We  shall  prove  absolutely 
and  We  have  proved  to  you  beyond  a  doubt,  make  me 
scrutinize  the  arguments  with  severity. 

Sincerity.  Nothing  is  sa.  fatal  to  persuasion  as  the 
suspfcTon  that  the  speaker  is  insincere;  while  sincerity 
on  the  part  of  the  speaker  prompts  an  open-minded, 
sincere  attitude  on  the  part  of  his  audience.  ^^One  has 
only  to  examine  the  great  speeches  from  Demosthenes 
to  Webster  to  see  how  earnestly  the  orators  in  all  parts 
of  their  work  impressed  their  sincerity  on  their  audiences ; 
one  has  but  to  consider  the  wrecked  careers  among  orators 
to  realize  that  sincerity  is„  the  chief  essential  of  per- 
suasion. Without  it  all  else,  in  the  long  run,  goes  for 
naught. ' '  ^    The  commonness  of  the  device,  detestable 

Baker,  Principles  of  Argumentation,  p.  302. 


336 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


when  dishonest,  of  charging  hypocrisy  against  an  oppo- 
nent, especially  a  political  opponent,  proves  the  impor- 
tance of  a  reputation  for  sincerity.  If  it  be  suspected 
that  a  speaker  is  for  sale,  ready  to  use  his  persuasive 
powers  for  any  cause  for  a  consideration,  either  money  or 
position,  or  that  he  is  advocating  a  public  measure  for 
the  sake  of  his  private  interests,  or  that  he  is  driven  to 
one  side  or  the  other  by  pique,  as  when  a  man  changes  his 
party  after  failure  to  secure  a  nomination,  at  once  his 
influence  wanes. 

The  best  way  to  be  believed  sincere  is  to  be  sincere. 
This  we  considered  in  the  chapter  on  emotion.  The  best 
vvay  to  resist  unfair  charges  of  insincerity  is,  by  a  course 
of  fair  dealing  with  one 's  public,  to  build  up  such  a  repu- 
tation for  sincerity  as  will  of  itself  refute  the  charge. 
It  is  not  often  best  to  discuss  one's  own  sincerity  unless 
one  has  been  attacked  on  that  score;  as  had  Demos- 
thenes when  he  delivered  his  masterpiece.  On  the  Crown, 
and  Webster  in  the  Captain  Joseph  White  case.  One 
may,  if  he  feels  it  needed,  set  forth  facts  to  prove  his  sin- 
cerity in  any  case,  without  specifically  raising  the  issue. 

A  speaker  should  net  permit  himself  to  declare  as  his 
belief  what  he  does  not  believe.  Apart  from  the  question 
of  common  honesty,  he  cannot  afford  to  develop  the 
insincerity  which  is  bound  to  show  itself  in  the  tones  of 
his  voice  and  in  a  hundred  subtle  ways ;  just  as  it  shows 
in  the  tones  and  manner  of  one  who  for  a  consider- 
able period  has  sold  goods  he  does  not  believe  in.  I 
have  occasionally  found  among  young  men  a  belief  that  a 
speaker  has  some  peculiar  license  to  misstate  facts  and  to 
advocate  views  he  does  not  hold.  This  is  a  most  danger- 
ous doctrine,  subversive  of  all  integrity  in  public  speech. 
Nor  is  this  the  view  of  his  audience.  They  will  agree 
with  the  fiery  words  of  Demosthenes  to  ^schines; 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  337 


What  greater  crime  can  an  orator  be  charged  with  than 
that  his  opinions  and  his  language  are  not  the  same? 
Such  is  found  to  be  your  character.  And  yet  you  open 
your  mouth  and  dare  to  look  these  men  in  the  face. ' ' 

A  stump"  speaker  has  no  more  license  than  others. 
Certainly  he  lowers  his  moral  dignity  if  he  permits  him- 
self to  be  used  as  a  mere  mouthpiece. 

This  question  of  sincerity  arises  in  school  and  college  debating. 
What  is  the  position  of  a  speaker  assigned  to  the  side  he  does  not 
believe  in?  In  the  first  place,  the  audience  does  not  understand 
from  the  appearance  of  a  speaker  on  one  side  of  a  school  debate 
that  he  necessarily  believes  in  that  side ;  rather  that  he  is  stating 
as  well  as  he  can  the  arguments  for  that  side.  There  is  no  decep- 
tion. Is  he  then  to  be  condemned,  provided  he  refrains  from  the 
conscious  use  of  unsound  arguments,  misrepresentation  of  facts,  and 
from  declaring  personal  beliefs  which  are  not  genuine?  In  the 
second  place,  very  rarely  can  such  a  student  be  said  to  have  a  con- 
viction upon  such  questions  as  are  debated.  He  thinks  he  believes 
in  the  affirmative  of  the  resohition,  "A  minimum  wage  should  be 
established  by  law  in  New  York."  Put  him  on  the  negative  and 
in  a  week  he  will  wonder  how  he  ever  believed  in  the  affinnative. 
Old  or  young,  few  of  us  have  studied  such  questions  enough  to  have 
a  7'ight  to  a  conviction  upon  them.  Usually  these  questions  are  well 
balanced ;  there  are  good  arguments  on  both  sides.  jNIany  a  student 
enters  these  debates  with  so  little  conviction  that  his  choice  of  sides 
depends  upon  the  first  article  he  chances  upon.  Or,  with  the  reso- 
lution instanced,  he  feels  that  he  is  for  helping  workers  generally, 
but  when  he  studies  the  subject  he  may  be  convinced  that  a  mini- 
mum wage  is  not  for  the  good  of  the  workers.  I  have  too  often 
changed  these  so-called  convictions  with  three  minutes  of  talk,  to 
take  them  seriously.  In  the  third  place,  the  debater  who  has  looked 
at  but  one  side  of  a  question  is  benefited,  both  as  a  debater  and 
as  a  thinker,  by  being  compelled  to  consider  with  care  the  other 
side.  Until  he  has  done  this  he  has  no  right  to  a  conviction.  As 
a  result  of  considering  both  sides  he  may,  after  the  debate  is  over, 
arrive  at  a  genuine  belief.  The  method  may  not  be  ideal,  but  it 
leads  students  into  a  study  of  problems  so  much  more  sincere  than 
the  study  of  the  average  man,  and  of  the  average  undergraduate, 
that  it  must  be  advocated  as  a  good.  The  very  few  who  have  real 
convictions  in  advance  can  be  accommodated.  I  should  hesitate  to 
ask  a  student  to  speak  against  the  side  he  genuinely,  believes  in, 
t  wen  in  a  school  debate ;  for  the  temptations  are  strong.    It  must 


338 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


be  admitted  that  student  debaters  are  at  times  insincere  in  their 
debating,  just  as  they  are  elsewhere.  But  when  Miu  Roosevelt  con- 
demns debating,  of  which  he  admits  he  has  no  direct  knowledge, 
as  teaching  insincerity,  he  ought,  to  be  consistent,  to  stop  encourag- 
ing young  men  to  enter  politics,  where  the  temptation  to  accept  and 
to  advocate  all  of  a  party  platform  is  far  greater  and  more  insidious 
than  the  temptations  of  debating.  Is  it  not  well  that  young  men 
should  meet  such  temptations  first  under  the  direction  of  teachers 
rather  than  of  bosses? 

Earnestness-   Those  who  say  that  sincerity  ) 
chief  essential  of  persuasion  must  include  in  tl 
the  idea  of  earnestness.    The  two  words  overlap  but  do 
not  coincide.    A  man  may  be  sincere  in  his  indif 
Earnestness  involves  seriousness  and  ardor.    Ai  . 
-efice  will  forgive  a  speaker  almost  any  lack,  if  he  is  mani- 
festly in  earnest  about  his  proposal.    If  he  is  not      ' ; 
in  earnest,  there  seems  to  be  small  reason  why  we 
trouble  ourselves;  if  he  seems  to  care  very  mucl: 
is  reason  to  suppose  his  cause  worthy  attention.    Ei  s 
ness  moves  our  emotions,  thaws  our  indifference,  anc 
us  the  faith  which  a  leader  must  create.    ^*No  oi 
give  faith,"  says  Matthew  Arnold,    unless  he  has 
the  persuaded  persuade." 

We  like  earnestness,  even  when  we  smile  at  its  exc 
Of  course,  desperate  earnestness  is  not  expected  ( 
possible  proposals,  upon  the  grading  of  a  street  as 
as  upon  the  removal  of  a  moral  nuisance;  but  whej 
one  attempts  persuasion  there  is  expected  the  degr 
earnestness  befitting  the  subject.    And  an  audience 
rarely  complain  that  their  speaker  is  too  earnest  £ 
his  cause,  though  they  may  complain  that  he  takes 
self  too  seriously.    Of  course,  we  should  not  con 
earnestness  with  mere  noise  and  redness  of  face ;  sljh 
the  other  hand,  we  should  not  suppress  earnestness 
fear  of  making  a  noise  or  of  getting  red  in  the  face. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  SS9 


A  cynical  habit  is  bad  for  a  speaker.  Sneering  or  flip- 
pant speech  may  amuse  for  a  moment,  but  it  quickly 
chills  an  audience.  It  destroys  the  sincere,  positive,  ear- 
nest tone  which  rouses  and  warms.  Often,  too,  he  who 
indulges  in  cynical  speech  permits  himself  to  be  unfair 
and  to  sacrifice  truth  to  smartness.  Unfortunately, 
many,  especially  in  college  communities,  cultivate  the 
habit  of  cynical  speech,  a  habit  hard  to  break. 

Persuasion  is  not  trickery.  There  are  those  who  feel 
that  consideration  of  the  methods  of  persuasion  is  not 
consistent  with  sincerity,  and  who  especially  complain 
that  when  we  talk  of  tactful  ways  of  dealing  with  an 
audience,  we  are  following  the  example  of  the  ancient 
Sophists,  who  seem  to  have  conceived  of  rhetoric  as  the 
art  of  making  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason,  of 
making  fallacy  plausible,  and  of  leading  men  against 
their  judgments.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  of  the 
suggestions  of  this  and  the  preceding  chapter,  and  indeed 
the  whole  art  of  public  speaking,  may  lend  themselves 
to  unworthy  ends.  When  Aristotle  begins  his  Rhetoric 
he  recognizes  that  the  art  has  been  prostituted  by  Sophists 
to  the  ends  of  falsehood  and  injustice,  and  makes  a  de- 
fense of  his  undertaking.  I  quote  from  Professor  J  ebb 's 
summary : 

Rhetoric  is  useful,  first  of  all,  because  truth  and  jus- 
tice are  naturally  stronger  than  their  opposites.  When 
awards  are  not  duly  given,  truth  and  justice  must  have 
been  worsted  by  their  own  fault.  [That  is  to  say,  be- 
cause they  have  not  been  as  well  represented  as  false- 
hood and  injustice.]  But  what  if  it  be  urged  that  this 
art  may  be  abused?  The  objection,  Aristotle  answers, 
applies  to  all  good  things,  except  virtue,  and  especially 
to  the  most  useful  things.  Men  may  abuse  strength, 
health,  wealth,  generalship." 


340 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


This  is  no  academic  question  to  be  discussed  : 
philosophic  vacuum ;  it  relates  to  one  of  the  most  prac 
phases  of  human  life,  the  influencing  of  men  in  loir 
everyday  relations,  large  and  small.  We  shall  do 
to  remind  ourselves  again  that  the  ethical  ques 
which  arise  are  essentially  the  same  whether  we  are  on 
or  off  the  platform.  On  or  off,  persuasion  may  be  at- 
tempted by  unfair  or  dishonest  means,  or  for  unworthy 
ends.  But  no  man  is  entitled  to  criticize  a  public 
speaker  for  using  persuasive  skill,  for  adapting  his  plea 
to  the  given  audience,  unless  he  himself  is  quite  as  ready 
to  refer  to  Jefferson  Davis  as  a  traitor  in  Mississippi 
as  in  Massachusetts,  to  tell  the  man  from  whom  he  solicits 
a  subscription  that  he  is  a  skinflint,  to  remind  his  middle- 
aged  hostess  of  her  years,  to  introduce  a  speaker  as  an 
unknown  from  whom  the  chairman  knows  not  what  to 
expect,  and  in  general  refuses  to  use  tact  to  oil  the  hinges 
of  everyday  intercourse.  However  much  we  may  con- 
demn the  insincerity  of  some  social  customs,  we  all  recog- 
nize that  in  social  intercourse  a  degree  of  tact  is  even  a 
virtue.  In  private  persuasion,  too,  we  all  recognize  that 
to  adapt  our  argument  to  the  one  addressed,  is  wise  and 
justifiable. 

No  clear  line  can  be  drawn  between  right  and  wrong 
in  the  matter  of  persuasive  methods.  The  honest  man 
will  be  on  his  guard,  on  the  platform  or  off,  and  will 
endeavor  to  keep  a  goodly  distance  on  the  right  side  of 
such  a  wavering  line  as  an  enlightened  conscience  may 
reveal.  He  will  not  wish  to  have  or  to  deserve  a  reputa- 
tion for  trickiness.  He  will  not  seek  to  deceive 
audience  concerning  his  convictions,  or  practise  that  b  i'  ' 
suppression  which  amounts  to  deception. 

But  honesty  does  not  demand  that  we  speak  all  < 
mind  or  tell  all  the  truth  all  the  time.    Even  the  o 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


341 


to  ''tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the 
truth/'  is  not  held  to  mean  that  a  witness  must  tell  all 
he  knows  regardless  of  its  relevancy  to  the  issue.  Hon- 
esty does  not  require  that  we  arouse  a  man's  opposition 
on  all  subjects  when  we  wish  to  persuade  him  in  regard 
to  one ;  that  we  antagonize  his  race  pride  when  we  only 
want  him  to  vote  for  a  cleaner  city.  A  young  speaker 
while  discussing  the  relations  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees, went  out  of  his  way  to  sneer  at  church  members. 
When  criticized  for  giving  unnecessary  offense  to  many 
just  employers,  he  replied  with  a  rebuking  air,  ''I  say 
what  I  think!"  Had  his  theme  been  the  shortcomings 
of  church  members  in  regard  to  the  labor  problem,  it 
would  have  been  quite  a  different  matter.  It  is  often  a 
speaker's  duty  to  tell  his  audience  unpalatable  truth,  and 
then  he  should  speak  fearlessly.  But  even  then,  if  he  is 
really  eager  to  gain  acceptance  for  his  truth,  he  will  not 
be  heedless  of  how  he  approaches  his  audience.  The  man 
both  honest  and  just  will  not  fail  to  observe  that,  while 
there  are  times  for  words  like  clubs  or  the  ''whip  of  small 
cords,"  there  are  more  times  for  kindlier  methods.  He 
will  never  be  willing  to  confuse  honesty  with  discourtesy, 
egotism,  or  bigotry.  The  man  who  combines  honesty 
with  sympathetic  understanding  of  others,  and  earnest- 
ness of  conviction  with  tolerance,  will  be  both  sincere  and 
tactful. 

To  those  troubled  over  this  matter,  and  I  am  not  sorry  there  are 
such,  I  commend  the  speeches  of  Paul  as  reported  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  When  one  remembers  the  sternness  with  which  he  ut- 
tered rebukes,  and  remembers  the  sufferings,  even  unto  death,  which 
he  endured  for  his  convictions,  one  will  hardlj'  accuse  Paul  of  being 
an  insincere  trickster.  Yet  he  was  one  of  the  most  persuasive  of 
speakers.  The  largest  elements  in  his  persuasion,  no  doubt,  were 
the  faith,  the  convictions  and  the  character  of  the  man  ;  but  skill 
was  not  lacking.    The « Authorized  Version  of  the  Bible  makes  Paul 


342 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


begin  his  address  to  the  Athenians  ;  i  "Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  per- 
ceive that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious.  For  as  I  passed 
by,  and  beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscrip- 
tion, TO  THE  UNKNOWN  GOD.  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  wor- 
ship, him  declare  I  unto  you."  Certainly  this  would  not  have  been 
tactful  before  those  Athenians,  proud  of  their  culture ;  but  we 
have  better  sense  and  better  persuasion  if  we  adopt  the  transla- 
tion of  the  noted  Biblical  scholars,  Conybeare  and  Howson  :  2  "AH 
things  which  I  behold  bear  witness  to  your  carefulness  in  religion. 
.  .  .  Whom,  therefore,  ye  worship,  though  ye  know  Him  not,  Him 
declare  I  unto  you."  A  cutting  criticism  becomes  an  approach  to 
a  common  ground. 

Paul  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  God  who  *'hath  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  .  .  .  that 
they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  him  and 
find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us :  For  in  him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being :  as  certain  also  of  your  own 
poets  have  said,  For  we  are  also  his  offspring.''  The  reference  to 
an  Athenian  altar,  the  reminder  of  the  kinship  of  all  races,  the 
quotation  from  their  poet,  and  the  unusually  philosophic  tone  of 
the  speech  as  a  whole,  were  all  attempts  to  win  a  favorable  hearing. 

Read  also  Paul's  speech  before  Agrippa.  He  came  before  Agrippa 
as  a  prisoner  to  make  his  defense :  "I  think  myself  happy,  King 
Agrippa,  because  I  am  to  ansvrer  for  myself  this  day  before  thee 
touching  all  the  things  whereof  I  am  accused  of  the  Jews :  especially 
because  I  know  thee  to  be  expert  in  all  customs  and  questions  which 
are  among  the  Jews :  wherefore  I  beseech  thee  to  hear  me  patiently." 
Some  one  has  pointed  out  that  Paul  paid  Agrippa,  one  of  the  most 
dissolute  rulers  of  his  time,  almost  the  only  honest  compliment  pos- 
sible. It  was  Paul  who  said,  "I  am  become  all  things  to  all  men, 
that  I  may  by  some  means  save  some"  :  that  is,  he  adapted  himself 
to  his  hearers.  But  he  never  compromised  his  message,  never  adul- 
terated the  truth,  and  never  flinched  from  plain  speaking. 

Persuasion  is  good  or  bad  as  we  make  it.  It  is  right 
to  persuade  men  if  it  is  right  to  influence  and  lead  them. 
Who  has  spoken  with  more  glowing  approval  of  the  power 
of  the  orator  than  Emerson  ?    I  should  not  dare  go  so  far : 

''That  which  he  wishes,  that  which  eloquence  ought 
to  reach,  is,  not  a  particular  skill  in  telling  a  story,  or 

1  Ae#s,  17:22. 

^Life  and  Epistles  of  St,  Paul,  Vol.  I,  p.  445, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  S4S 


neatly  summing  up  evidence,  or  arguing  logically,  or 
dexterously  addressing  the  prejudice  of  a  company, — 
but  a  taking  sovereign  possession  of  the  audience.  Him 
we  call  an  artist,  who  shall  play  on  an  assembly  of  men 
as  a  master  on  the  keys  of  a  piano, — who,  seeing  the  peo- 
ple furious,  shall  soften  and  compose  them,  shall  draw 
them,  when  he  will,  to  laughter  and  to  tears.  Bring  him 
to  his  audience,  and,  be  they  who  they  may, — coarse  or 
refined,  pleased  or  displeased,  sulky  or  savage,  with  their 
opinions  in  the  keeping  of  a  confessor,  or  with  their  opin- 
ions in  their  bank-safes, — he  will  have  them  pleased  and 
humored  as  he  chooses ;  and  they  shall  carry  and  execute 
that  which  he  bids  them. ' ' 

-  Making  the  impression  enduring.  We  should  bring 
'  together  here  certain  ideas  f  ron^  the  preceding  discussion 
of  persuasion,  which  bear  upon  the  problem  of  maintain^ 
ing  belief  and  affecting  conduct  in  the  future,  after  the 
personal  influence  of  the  speaker  and  the  impulse  of  the 
occasion  have  faded.  The  speaker  may  wish  to  control 
the  action  of  his  hearers  at  some  time,  days,  months  or 
years  after  his  speech ;  or  he  may  wish  to  start  them  on  a 
course  to  be  continued  for  a  long  period ;  as  when  he  is 
urging  a  student  body  to  give  steady  support  to  athletics, 
or  when  a  preacher  urges  righteous  living.  In  either 
case  the  task  is  more  difficult  than  when  the  action  aimed 
at  is  immediate.  No  sure  solution  of  this  problem  is  pos- 
sible, but  some  suggestion  can  be  made. 

The  problem  is  still  that  of  attention.  Pillsbury,^  after 
stating  that  voluntary  action  is  the  result  of  attention, 
says  that  the  remote  act  is  the  same  as  the  immediate, 
except  that  the  movements  are  delayed  to  await  an 
appropriate  immediate  stimulus  in  another  set  of  cir- 
cumstances. ...  It  is  decided,  for  example,  that  if 
sufficient  money  is  available  one  university  will  be  at- 

1  Attention,  p.  160. 


344 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


tended,  if  not  another  will  be  chosen.  .  .  .  The  de- 
cision acts  at  once  to  control  and  influence  later  atten- 
tion." That  is,  if  you  induce  a  man  to-day  to  deter- 
mine that  if  it  rains  next  Friday  night  he  will  go  fishing 
with  you  Saturday  morning,  when  the  rain  comes  he 
gives  no  attention  to  any  other  course  than  going  fishing. 
Sometimes,  Pillsbury  says,  ''the  decision  may  even  act 
in  advance  to  make  attention  at  the  moment  practically 
unnecessary."  That  could  hardly  be  in  so  important  a 
matter  as  going  to  college;  nor  can  we  make  sure  that 
when  the  moment  for  action  comes,  attention  will  not  turn 
to  alternative  actions;  for  example,  we  could  not  make 
sure  that  the  young  man  desirous  of  going  to  a  certain 
university,  would  give  over  all  thoughts  of  it,  even 
though  sufficient  funds  were  not  forthcoming.  He  might 
yield  to  the  temptation  to  go  there  anyhow.  An  adviser 
who  in  July  wishes  to  make  sure  that  the  young  man  will 
follow  the  more  prudent  course  in  September,  will  en- 
deavor to  impress  the  reasons  for  that  course  upon  the 
young  man's  memory  so  that  they  will  persist  and  will 
surely  recur  at  the  moment  of  final  decision. 

Now  we  are  told  that  impressions  persist  according 
to  their  primacy,  frequency,  recency  and  vividness. 
Of  primacy  little  is  to  be  said,  except  that  the  adviser 
will  make  it  a  point,  if  possible,  to  impress  his  views 
before  other  views  are  fixed.    Recency  is  the  one  element 
that  is  lacking  when  we  consider  future  action;  but 
the  term  suggests  the  desirability  of  renewing  one' 
advice  near  the  time  of  final  decision.    Frequency  w 
have  often  emphasized  in  terms  of  repetition ;  and  vivid 
ness  in  our  discussions  of  imagery  and  concrete,  specific 
and  pungent  phraseology. 

We  see  again,  also,  the  importance  of  sound  argument, 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF  345 


that  will  stand  the  test  of  later  examination  and  hostile 
attack.  The  farther  we  are  looking  into  the  future,  the 
less  we  can  depend  upon  suggestion,  personal  influence, 
or  enthusiasm,  and  the  more  we  must  depend  upon  con- 
viction. Particularly  do  we  need  to  fix  in  the  minds  of 
our  hearers  arguments  that  are  clear,  simple  and  readily 
remembered.  That  adherent  is  not  very  firmly  attached 
to  your  cause  who  can  only  say  when  challenged,  '^Well, 
I  remember  that  when  I  heard  the  argument  I  was  con- 
vinced, but  I  cannot  remember  it  now'';  or,  ^'I  do  not 
quite  understand  it  now.'/  Brutus 's  speech  was  good 
while  it  lasted,  but  it  was  not  of  a  character  to  stick  in 
mind;  and  Antony's  more  vivid  speech  drove  it  from 
attention. 

Again,  the  keener  the  interests  with  which  a  proposal 
and  the  arguments  for  it  are  associated,  the  better  they 
will  cling;  and  the  larger  the  number  of  these  interests 
the  more  likely  they  are  to  be  suggested  again  and  again 
to  the  hearer's  mind.  Motives  should  be  enlisted  which 
are  strong  and  also  which  are  constant  with  those  per- 
suaded,— their  everyday  working  motives  and  not  merely 
those  that  are  awakened  by  special  inspiration.  The  de- 
sired action  should  be  thoroughly  associated  with  custom- 
ary modes  of  action  and  with  fundamental  beliefs,  which 
are  themselves  fixed  and  persistent. 

Much  reliance  must  be  placed  upon  the  ^^set"  of  mind 
established,  upon  the  mood  of  conviction.  Arguments, 
precedents  and  authorities  can  boused  to  create  the  feel- 
ing that  the  proposed  course  is  sound,  correct,  respect- 
able, safe,  noble,  whatever  is  desirable ;  while  the  alterna- 
tive course  and  the  arguments  for  it  can  be  made  to 
appear  unsound,  unsafe,  ignoble,  associated  with  un- 
worthy persons  and  despised  courses, — in  general,  given 


S46 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


a  character  which  will  cause  them  to  be  hustled  out  when 
they  presume  again  to  present  themselves  at  the  ante- 
chamber of  consciousness. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  that  the.  emotional 
attitude  established  is  of  high  importance.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  suppose,  what  is  often  asserted  or  intimated,  that 
a  conviction  established  by  pure  logical  argument  will 
persist  longer  than  one  which  is  supported  by  emotion. 
(  The  strongest  conviction  rests  upon  both  reason  and  emo- 
tion. Provided  the  emotional  attitude  toward  a  given 
action  or  belief  persists,  reasons  will  usually  be  found  to 
support  it,  though  the  original  reasons  have  faded  from 
memory. 

In  particular,  the  ^^wish  to  believe"  should  be  given 
enduring  strength.  If  one  can  awaken  a  persistent  de- 
sire, one  may  be  confident  that  it  will  ^Hend  to  maintain 
the  idea  of  its  object  or  end  at  the  focus  of  conscious- 
ness. ' '  ^ 

Emotions  fade,  but  ''when  the  emotion  has  run  its  course,  there  is 
often  left  a  permanent  residue  ,  .  .  that  may  be  designated  as  a 
mood.  This  mood  ma^^  be  vague  and  uncertain,  ...  or  definite  and 
clear.  In  the  latter  instance  it  may  be  termed  an  'emotionalized 
prejudice' ;  that  is,  a  predisposition  to  act  in  certain  characteristic 
ways  in  the  presence  of  an  object  around  which  center  marked  feel- 
ing values.  Prejudices  of  this  sort  are  easily  found  in  politics, 
morality  and  religion.  When  once  formed  they  are  extremely  dif- 
ficult to  overcome."  2  It  should  be  said  that  the  writers  of  this 
extract  give  no  sinister  meaning  to  the  term  prejudice.  To  them  a 
prejudice  may  be  either  good  or  bad.  They  add:  "Not  only  may 
a  mood  be  the  result  of  an  emotionalized  upheaval ;  it  may  become 
the  starting  point  of  a  new  expression  of  the  emotion."  Applying 
this  statement  to  our  work,  if  one  awakens  a  strong  emotion  in 
his  hearers,  which  results  in  a  mood,  that  emotion  will  readily  be 
awakened  again  by  the  circumstances  with  which  it  has  been  as-, 
sociated. 

1  See  quotation  from  McDougall  at  p.  196. 

2  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior^  p.  84. 


PERSUASION  AND  BELIEF 


347 


We  have  before  noted  the  value  of  inducing  one 's  hear- 
ers to  commit  themselves  at  once,  when  the  principal 
action  desired  is  in  the  future,  so  enlisting  on  one's  side 
the  force  of  inertia  which  keeps  men  moving  in  courses 
once  begun,  reluctance  to  break  with  associations  once 
formed,  and  also  the  pride  which  makes  us  reluctant  to 
appear  inconsistent. 

Work  to  do.  It  is  assumed,  of  course,  that  the  student 
of  this  chapter  will  take  his  opportunities  to  apply  the 
principles  in  persuasive  speeches,  particularly  those  which 
seek  to  overcome  active  opposition.  He  may  also  profit 
by  studying  speeches  of  the  orators.  For  his  present 
purpose  those  speeches  are  best  which  have  sprung  from 
historical  crises.  Eliot's  Debates,  containing  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  conventions  that  in  the  various  states  first 
adopted  the  National  Constitution;  the  debates  of  Web- 
ster and  Hayne  and  Webster  and  Calhoun  on  the  issue  of 
Nullification,  and  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  are  well 
adapted  to  the  purpose.  Speeches  of  to-day,  concerning 
matters  great  and  small,  will  prove  suggestive;  but  the 
historic  contests  can  be  better  grasped  because  of  the  work 
which  historians  and  literary  men  have  put  upon  them. 
The  student  should  give  much  attention  to  the  occasions 
of  the  speeches  studied,  and  give  fair  attention  to  both 
sides.  He  should  read  with  care  the  brilliant  speech  of 
Hayne  as  well  as  the  famous  Reply;  the  arguments  of 
Douglas  as  well  as  those  of  Lincoln. 

Perhaps  the  best  single  study  will  be  found  in  Bouton's  The  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas  Debates,  which  contains  four  complete  debates  of 
the  series,  the  Springfield  and  the  Cooper  Union  speeches  of  Lincoln, 
and  a  good  introduction  and  notes.  Harding's  Select  Orations  Il- 
lustrating American  History  is  an  excellent  work,  though  there  is 
too  much  abbreviation  of  speeches.  Webster^ s  Great  Speeches  con- 
tains a  good  selection  of  his  works,  and  is  especially  valuable  as  in- 
cluding Whipple's  essay  on  V^^ebster  as  a  Master  of  English  Style. 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Webster's  complete  works  fill  many  volumes,  edited  by  Edward 
Everett.  But  in  studying  his  great  debates  go  to  Delates  and  Pro- 
ceedings in  Congress^  or  to  Benton's  abbreviation  of  the  Congres- 
sional debates. 

Conclusion.  After  all  this  discussion  of  persuasion, 
I  have  to  say  that  the  subject  is  by  no  means  exhausted. 
It  is  as  large  as  human  nature.  It  is  a  subject  that  grows 
upon  one  with  experience.  I  have  not  tried  to  fix  dog- 
matic rules  for  a  subject  of  such  complexity.  My  hope 
is  that  the  student  will  acquire  such  an  interest  that  he 
will  continue  the  study,  and  such  a  grasp  of  principles 
that  he  can  make  his  study  profitable.  The  study  will  by 
no  means  be  confined  to  books  and  speeches,  but  will  force 
itself  upon  the  attention  of  one  interested,  in  every  rela- 
tion of  life.  The  principles  given  can  be  tested  and 
elaborated  by  your  own  experiences,  in  influencing  others, 
and  in  being  influenced  by  others.  You  can  study  jDcr- 
suasion  in  your  relations  with  those  with  whom  you  have 
dealings, — with  those  in  authority  over  you,  with  those 
over  whom  you  have  authority,  and  with  those  with  whom 
you  must  cooperate.  You  can  learn  a  lesson  from  the 
advertisement,  the  business  letter,  the  gentleman  who 
solicits  your  subscription  for  a  book  or  a  charity,  the 
candidate  who  seeks  your  vote,  the  student  leader  who 
would  arouse  college  spirit,''  as  well  as  from  every 
movement  and  every  propagandist  of  the  time. 


CHAPTER  X 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT 

Selecting  the  topic  is  sometimes  the  most  difficult 
part  of  making  a  speech.  The  speaker  in  court,  in  the 
legislature  or  the  convention,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  in 
the  pulpit,  finds  his  theme  prescribed  for  him.  The 
theme  of  the  so-called  occasional  address,  also,  may  be 
dictated  v/ith  more  or  less  definiteness  by  the  occasion; 
as  at  a  dedication  or  a  celebration.  But  there  are  times 
when  the  occasion  permits  such  wide  latitude  that  one 
feels  at  a  loss;  and  there  are  times  when  the  demand  is 
simply  for  a  speech,  and  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  arrangements  says  with  the  utmost  generosity,  ^^Oh, 
just  anything  at  all!''  The  problems  that  arise  from 
such  a  situation,  and  some  which  are  common  to  all  oc- 
casions, call  for  consideration.  The  student  in  a  speaking 
class  especially  needs  some  suggestions. 

Instead  of  mooning  about  with  the  vague  question, 
What  in  the  world  can  I  speak  about?  the  seeker  after 
a  bright  idea  should  put  to  himself  certain  questions 
which  will  define  his  possibilities. 

vj.  Does. the  occasion  suggest  an  appropriate  theme? 
Little  needs  to  be  said  under  this  head  except  that  we 
should  avoid  violently  wrenching  an  occasion  or  a  theme 
from  its  natural  trend,  or  disappointing  the  expectations 
of  an  audience.  For  example,  if  an  audience  has  gath- 
ered to  do  honor  to  a  man,  they  may  resent,  or  at  least 
bis  friends  may  resent,  your  failure  to  render  due  honor 

349 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


to  him.    A  Founder's  Day  celebration  £  h  no 

mention  is  made  of  the  founder  does  nc  ie  his 

descendants.  The  less  personal  the  feeli  one's 
hearers  for  the  hero,  the  greater  the  liberty  allowed  in 
theme  and  treatment.  Washington's  birthday  has  be- 
come merely  a  patriotic  holiday;  but  we  can  hardly  say 
the  same  of  Lincoln's  birthday.  Again,  an  audience  may 
come  together  because  they  wish  to  hear  a  certain  theme 
discussed,  either  because  it  is  the  theme  of  the  hour,  or 
because  they  particularly  wish  to  hear  the  speaker  of  the 
occasion  on  that  theme.'  One  may  have  good  reason  for 
refusing  to  meet  the  expectation  of  his  audience,  but  it 
is  not  lightly  to  be  ignored.J 

If  the  first  question  must  be  answered  in  the  negative, 
one  should  then  ask, 

2.  Is  there  an  appropriate  subject  in  which  I  am 
interested,  and  in  which  I  can  interest  my  audience? 
The  student  who  cannot  think  of  an  interesting  theme  is 
a  common  figure  in  classes  in  public  speaking.  If  he  will 
go  to  his  instructor  in  time,  instead  of  taking  Capital 
Punishment  at  the  last  moment,  there  may  be  help  for 
him.  It  is  usually  unwise  to  assign  a  topic ;  for  he  is  too 
likely  to  accept  it  without  real  interest.  ^ '  What  are  you 
interested  in  ?  "  inquires  the  instructor.  The  astonishing 
answer  often  given,  ^'Nothing,"  really  means,  nothing 
that  will  do  for  a  speech.  The  student's  interests  are  so 
near  him  often,  that  he  cannot  see  them ;  or  so  familiar 
that  he  assumes  no  one  would  care  to  hear  of  them. 

''What  are  you  studying?"  is  the  next  query.  Per- 
haps economics  is  the  student's  present  interest.  There 
are,  of  course,  no  end  of  topics  for  speeches  in  that  field ;  j 
such  as  labor  questions,  socialism,  or  the  sinr '  "  "♦•ax.    All  j 
are  too  large  for  short  speeches,  but  they  s    i       ^  sub- 1 
division.    Political  science  suggests  nur-    ?  topics;! 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT  351 


such  as  the  initiative,  the  recall,  city  managers,  bossism, 
and  Tammany  Hall.  Social  science  is  even  more  fruitful 
of  good  topics :  the  problems  of  philanthropy  and  social 
welfare, — college  settlements,  playgrounds,  junior  repub- 
lics, summer  camps,  prison  reforms,  eugenics,  etc.  His- 
tory presents  many  themes  which  can  be  related  to 
present-day  problems,  and  many  characters  of  high 
interest.  Literature,  especially  the  drama  and  the  novel ; 
the  law,  engineering,  agriculture, — in  fact,  every  field  of 
study  offers  something,  if  only  one  can  recognize  it. 

One  student  gloomily  told  me  that  his  specialty  was  Latin,  and 
no  one  could  get  a  topic  out  of  Latin.  "But  why  are  you  studying 
Latin  in  this  age  and  place?"  he  was  asked.  "Are  you  not  ridi- 
culed by  your  friends  who  are  so  wise  and  practical  about  chemicals 
and  engines?"  He  made  a  speech  which  was  at  least  as  wise  as  the 
average  faculty  debate  on  educational  problems ;  and  he  commanded 
interest.  To  a  despairing  law  student  was  told  how  a  class  had  an- 
swered the  question,  "How  many  prospective  lawyers  here?"  with 
"None;  we  are  all  honest!"  He  was  stirred  to  a  speech  on  the 
ethics  of  law, — a  theme  which  usually  arouses  the  interest  of  both 
lawyers  and  laymen.  Laymen  like  to  hear,  also,  of  certain  law 
problems  that  arise  in  ordinary  affairs,  or  are  discussed  in  the  pa- 
pers, such  as  injunctions. 

Unless  a  student,  however,  has  done  a  considerable 
amount  of  work  in  the  field  from  which  he  proposes  to 
draw  a  topic,  there  is  little  hope  that  he  will  have  gotten 
his  bearings  in  it,  found  out  who  the  authorities  are, 
what  men  have  thought  about  it,  what  theories  are  ex- 
ploded and  what  proved  sound,  will  have  assimilated  the 
matter  and  determined  his  beliefs,  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  can  deal  with  it  justly.  He  will  do  much  better  with 
a  topic  from  a  study  taken  last  year  than  from  one  quite 
new  to  him.  A  student  submitted  socialism  as  a  theme, 
saying  he  was  just  beginning  a  course  in  the  subject.  It 
was  evident  his  ideas  were  of  the  vaguest,  else  he  would 
not  have  thought  to  present  so  large  a  topic  in  five 


352 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


minutes.  It  should  be  further  observed,  by  one  taking  a 
theme  from  class  work,  that  to  give  a  mere  resume  of 
lectures  is  not  very  profitable  as  training ;  since  the  search 
for  and  arrangement  of  material  is  an  important  part  of 
our  work,  and  public  speaking  is  the  expression  of  one 's 
own  opinions;  and  also  that  such  a  procedure  is  not 
honorable  when  an  original  speech  has  been  called  for. 

My  own  classes  usually  begin  with  campus  topics; 
that  is,  subjects  that  are  or  ought  to  be  discussed  among 
students.  These  have  certain  advantages:  the  speakers 
have  first-hand  knowledge  of  these  subjects;  and  they 
and  their  hearers  have  keen  interest  in  them.  These 
themes  tend  to  keep  the  beginner  from  assuming  strange 
tones  and  poses,  and  help  him  to  come  into  touch  with  his 
audience.  A  student  addressing  students  upon  student 
interests  does  not  feel  that  the  situation  is  abnormal. 
And  it  is  a  good  thing  for  students  to  study  the  problems 
of  their  campus  life,  upon  which  they  often  have  preju- 
dices rather  than  information  and  reasoned  beliefs. 

The  vices  of  campus  topics  lie  close  to  their  virtues. 
Too  often  students  feel  that  no  search  for  material  and  no 
thinking  is  needed  on  these  themes,  and  that  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  treat  them  with  care  or  present  them  with 
dignity  and  effectiveness.  They  too  rarely  get  at  the 
principles  involved  by  thorough  analysis.  The  difficulty 
is  plainly  more  in  the  treatment  than  in  the  topics.  But 
inasmuch  as  campus  topics  do  not  as  a  rule  furnish  much 
development,  it  proves  best  to  limit  their  use,  once  a 
class  is  well  launched,  to  those  instances  in  which  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  thorough-going  work  will  be 
done ;  and  on  those  terms  we  have  some  strong  speeches. 

Some  of  the  best  of  our  recent  speeches  at  Cornell,  winning  ora- 
tions in  fact,  have  been  upon  such  topics  as  College  ''Activities,*' 
and  **V5^hat  is  College  for?*'    Topics  that  have  proved  good  in  class 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT  S58 


are:  Should  the  University  control  boarding  houses?  To  what 
extent  is  the  University  responsible  for  the  lives  of  its  students? 
The  honor  system  (in  its  various  forms),  Co-education,  Profes- 
sional coaches,  Summer  baseball,  "Wet"  banquets,  Theory  and 
practice  in  professional  courses.  Should  ''bread-and-butter"  courses 
be  given  in  the  Arts  College?  The  four-year  residence  requirement, 
Working  one's  way  through  college.  Any  one  of  these,  though 
they  may  be  treated  very  superficially,  permits  of  high-class  work,  in 
getting  at  the  facts,  in  finding  foundation  principles,  and  in  meet- 
ing the  views  and  prejudices  of  the  audience. 

One  speaker's  vice  which  is  peculiarly  noticeable  in 
speeches  on  campus  topics  is  that  of  ''carrying  coals  to 
Newcastle."  That  is,  the  student  speaker  proceeds  to 
retail  facts  and  ideas  which  are  the  commonest  of  table 
talk,  as  if  telling  something  new.  But  the  fault  is  less 
a  matter  of  topic  than  of  failure  to  work.  A  student 
wished  to  speak  on  the  seemingly  threadbare  topic,  Our 
need  of  dormitories.  This  question  w^as  put  to  him, 
''Why  don't  we  have  dormitories?  All  agree  we  need 
them,  and  the  University  has  funds  that  might  be  used.'^ 
He  began  an  investigation.  University  publications 
offered  little ;  so  he  went  to  the  treasurer,  who  gave  him 
the  facts  ascertained  by  a  committee  of  the  trustees.  The 
student  came  back  convinced  that  the  trustees  would  not 
be  justified  in  using  the  funds  of  the  University  for 
dormitories,  which  would  make  but  a  small  financial 
return,  and  that  we  must  wait  for  gifts.  He  made  the 
only  speech  of  the  many  I  have  heard  on  the  subject 
that  was  worth  making. 

There  are  questions  of  immediate  interest  to  students 
which  are  not  strictly  campus  topics.  One  of  the  best 
speeches  I  have  heard  recently  was  on  the  proposition 
that  students  should  not  do  summer  canvassing.  Many 
of  the  speaker's  auditors  had  done  canvassing  and  re- 
sented his  strictures.  The  situation  was  very  real  and 
somewhat  exciting.    Answers  were  forthcoming.  The 


354 


PUB 


^BAKING 


speaker  had  simply  got 


I  of  a  common  ethical  prob- 


lem as  it  related  itself  experience  of  his  audience. 


interest. 

A  student  replied  to  my  random  questioning  that  his  home  was 
in  Cleveland.  "What  do  you  know  of  Tom  Johnson?"  *'0h,  I 
know  a  lot  about  him ;  I  am  related  to  his  family."  ^'Interesting 
man,  was  he  not?"  ''I  should  think  so!"  *'Well,  anybody  who 
knows  Tom  Johnson  and  what  he  did  ought  not  to  lack  for  sub- 
jects. By  the  way,  how  about  your  'Golden  Rule*  chief  of  police?" 
The  student  grinned.  "Why,  I  never  thought  of  those  things. 
Had  no  idea  what  to  talk  about.  Got  two  or  three  subjects  now.'* 
He  was  never  again  at  a  loss. 

Another  student  who  had  failed  to  find  a  good  topic  in  a  whole 
term,  threw  himself  on  my  mercy.  All  my  probing  came  to  naught. 
He  had  had  no  special  experiences.  His  home  town  was  common- 
place. As  an  afterthought  he  remarked  that  he  had  spent  most  of 
his  winters  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Now,  what  could  be 
more  interesting  to  a  Northern  audience  than  the  first-hand  in- 
formation he  had  about  the  life  of  that  once  belligerent  city?  He 
knew  old  confederate  majors  and  old  plantation  negroes ;  his  family 
from  ante-bellum  days  had  owned  a  plantation  near  the  city,  on 
which  could  be  studied  many  of  the  South's  problems.  He  knew 
the  Northern  point  of  view  and  the  Southern  ;  yet  he  did  not  want 
to  talk  of  the  South  or  her  problems,  he  said,  because  he  did  not 
know  enough  about  them !  He  would  have  tackled,  on  the  slightest 
encouragement,  the  currency  bill  or  the  revolution  in  China,  but 
he  did  not  know  enough  of  the  South.  His  first  reaction  was, 
when  urged  to  speak  of  the  South,  "Where  can  I  find  material?" 
In  a  way  he  was  right ;  he  did  not  know  enough.  But  he  was  urged 
to  arrange  first  his  own  facts,  impressions  and  opinions;  and  then 
to  read  widely,  including  the  work  of  men  of  many  casts  of  opinion 
about  Southern  problems.  A  large  undertakinsj ;  but  then  he  hnd  a 
fine  opportunity  to  produce  some  splendid  speeches.  He  did  not 
need  to  do  all  at  once;  but  could  have  begun  on  a  course  that  would 
have  developed  such  a  fund  of  material  and  ideas,  that  he  would 
never  have  been  at  loss  for  a  popular  theme  in  later  years. 


One  on  the  hunt  for  . 
he  has  had  any  unique 
interesting  characters,  oi 


will  do  well  to  consider  if 
ences,  or  has  known  any 
/ed  in  a  place  of  peculiar 


A  conventional  conception  of  public  speaking  some- 
times causes  one  to  overlook  good  .subjects ;  such  as  those 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT 


355 


pertaining  to  business,  machinery,  and  in  general  to  how 
things  are  clone.  Business  methods  and  business  can  be 
made  both  interesting  and  profitable.  Popular  science 
and  machines  and  manufactures  often  offer  good  sugges- 
tions. The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  certain 
types  of  engines,  or  of  tires,  are  of  interest  in  this  motor- 
ing age.  How  to  make  automobile  tires,  Diesel  engines, 
the  production  of  certified  milk,  have  proved  interesting 
topics  when  handled  by  students  who  really  knew  whereof 
they  spoke. 

Many  students  come  to  feel  that  in  the  long  run  they 
are  more  benefitted  by  working  upon  the  economic,  polit- 
ical and  social  questions  of  the  day,  because  they  think 
they  learn  more  of  permanent  w^orth.  Certainly  it  is 
well  that  students  should  take  more  interest  in  the  ques- 
tions of  the  day  than  most  of  them  do;  but  a  judicious 
mixture  of  subjects  seems  best. 

The  chief  moral  of  these  remarks  is :  Look  about  you 
and  look  in  yourself  for  topics.  Get  your  eyes  open  for 
them,  and  you  will  find  more  topics  than  opportunities  for 
speaking.  There  is  a  speech  in  almost  any  subject,  if 
you  know  how  to  get  it  out ;  though  it  may  not  be  worth 
while  to  get  it  out  in  every  case. 

The  case  is  not  hopeless  even  for  one  w^ho  can  find  no 
suitable  interest  existing  in  his  mind.  If  he  will  make  up 
his  mind  to  do  genuine  work  upon  some  subject  which 
he  feels  he  ought  to  understand,  he  may  gain  benefit 
from  the  study,  as  well  as  make  a  fairly  good  speech. 
Let  him  go  to  the  periodicals  and  look  for  suggestions; 
but  not  to  find  an  article  that  will  furnish  him  all  needed 
material.  He  should  use  his  wits  upon  the  material, 
utilizing  the  directions  of  Chapter  IV. 

Or  one  may  take  a  notable  book  as  his  starting  point. 
The  book  will  be  worth  reading  for  its  own  sake ;  and  if 


356         .  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


it  serves,  as  it  should,  to  cause  its  reader  to  do  some 
independent  thinking,  he  will  not  only  have  something 
to  say,  but  a  genuine  desire  to  say  it.  Books  written  by 
authorities,  but  in  a  semi-popular  vein,  are  best  for  the 
purpose.  Many  such  are  suggested  to  a  student  in  his 
various  courses.  One  seeking  suggestions  in  some  special 
field,  as  engineering,  law,  or  agriculture,  may  ask 
specialists  in  those  subjects  what  are  the  notable  books 
that  might  prove  stimulating. 

A  few  books  will  be  suggested  here :  Bryce's  American  Com- 
monwealth,  Lowell's  Public  Opinion  and  Popular  Government^ 
Lippmann's  Preface  to  Politics,  Fiske's  American  Political  Ideals, 
Belloc  and  Chesterton's  The  Party  System,  Roosevelt's  AutoMogra- 
phy,  McCall's  Thomas  Brackett  Reed,  Brande's  Ferdinand  Lassaile, 
Thayer's  Life  and  Times  of  Cavour,  von  Buelow's  Imperial  Ger- 
many, Dawson's  Germany  and  the  Germans,  Birrell's  Obiter  Dicta, 
Conklin's  Heredity  and  Environment,  Schreiner's  Woman  and  La- 
bor, George's  The  Intelligence  of  Women,  Vallery-Radot's  Life  of 
Pasteur,  Essays  in  American  History  Dedicated  to  Frederick 
Turner  (Read  first  the  essay  on  Kansas),  Chesterton's  Heretics, 
Rice's  College  and  the  Future,  Fitch's  The  College  Course  and 
Preparation  for  Life,  Eliot's  The  Training  for  an  Effective  Life, 
Fulton's  College  Life:  Its  Conditions  and  Problems.  (See  list  of 
"Reference  W^orks"  at  the  back  of  this  book.) 

Certain  plays  and  novels,  read  thoughtfully,  may  provoke  re- 
actions that  will  serve  as  impulses  to  speak ;  for  example :  Ibsen's 
Ghosts  and  his  Enemy  of  the  People,  Shaw's  The  Doctor's  Di- 
lemma, Galsworthy's  Justice,  Barker's  The  Voysey  Inheritance. 
Butler's  Erewhon,  Meredith's  Evan  Harrington  and  his  Ordeal  of 
Richard  Feverel,  Wells'  Mr.  Britling  Sees  It  Through, 

Mind  you,  this  is  a  ''last  ditch"  method  of  finding  a 
subject.  The  best  topics  will  come  out  of  the  speaker's 
experience, — in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term, — out  of  what 
he  has  been  doing,  observing,  reading,  thinking,  before 
the  search  for  a  subject  began. 

This  ''working  up"  of  a  subject  is,  of  course,  not  pos- 
sible for  one  who  puts  his  choice  of  a  subject  off  till  the 
last  moment.    There  must  be  time,  not  only  for  gathering 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT     .  357 


material,  but  also  for  assimilation.  Ordinarily  we  can- 
not expect  good  results  unless  a  speaker  in  choosing  his 
subject  two  weeks  in  advance  (which  is  the  minimum 
time  he  should  allow  himself),  has  already  a  good  deal 
of  knowledge  and  interest  in  regard  to  it. 

3.  What  purpose  do  I  wish  to  accomplish?  So  far  we 
have  assumed  that  the  speaker  has  no  purpose  beyond 
interesting ;  but  generally  he  will  wish  to  inform,  convince 
or  persuade.  As  Genung  has  said,^  the  speaker  chooses 
an  object  rather  than  a  subject;  and  then  he  chooses  a 
theme  that  will  serve  his  object.  A  stump  speaker,  for 
example,  has  as  his  object  the  winning  of  votes;  but  he 
may  choose  any  one  of  many  topics  to  serve  his  purpose, — 
the  tariff,  the  woolen  schedule,  control  of  corporations, 
which  party  has  the  worst  bosses,  or  economy.  Even 
when  a  speaker's  general  theme  is  prescribed  by  the 
occasion,  he  still  may  make  the  theme  serve  his  own 
purposes.  Thus  on  Lincoln's  birthday,  one  may  honor 
Lincoln's  memory  while  using  his  authority  to  support 
a  policy,  or  to  condemn  the  party  he  helped  to  found. 
George  William  Curtis  was  able  to  grace  with  his  oratory 
all  sorts  of  conventional  occasions,  such  as  dedications, 
commencements  and  the  banquets  of  societies,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  preach  most  effectively  a  high  type  of 
patriotism  and  civic  righteousness.  Without  a  serious 
purpose  occasional  addresses  are  likely  to  be  bombastic, 
dreary  or  absurd  affairs.  The  Gettysburg  Address  is 
masterful  in  the  way  Lincoln  makes  his  more  evident 
and  his  more  serious  purposes  serve  each  other. 

In  considering  purpose,  the  speaker  may  well  ask  him- 
self if  there  is  any  object  to  be  served  by  discussing  the 
topic  under  consideration  before  the  prospective  audi- 
ence.    Speeches  in  my  classes  which  urge  the  need  of 

1  Practical  Rhetoric,  p.  258. 


358 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


a  new  gymnasium  and  this  and  that  change  in  admin- 
istration, would  be  much  more  appropriate  if  they  could 
be  addressed  to  the  trustees  or  the  faculty.  But  this  is 
fully  as  much  a  question  of  the  adaptation  of  material 
as  of  choice  of  topic. 

A  student  offered  this  for  his  first  speech :    The  student  help 

at  the  cafeteria  should  have  a  rebate  on  their  meals.    He  was 

interested  and  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  we  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  matter.  His  next  offering  was,  Why  our  glee  club  is  so  success- 
ful. The  speech  turned  out,  as  feare<l,  only  a  glorification  of  a  lo- 
cal institution, — a  poor  speech  because  there  was  nothing  to  ac- 
complish. 

4.  Is  the  topic  congruous  with  the  mood  of  the  occa- 
sion? This  is  also  largely  a  matter  of  treatment,  but 
it  is  evident  that  some  topics  are  too  heavy  or  somber, 
and  some  too  light  for  certain  occasions;  and  that  an 
attempt  to  adapt  them  would  produce  absurdity  or  worse. 

5.  Will  my  audience  wish  to  hear  this  topic  discussed 
by  me?  This  has  been  sufficiently  considered  in  Chap- 
ter VI. 

6.  Can  the  topic  be  properly  treated  in  the  allotted 
time?  Most  subjects  can  be  treated  briefly  or  at  great 
length;  but  some  suffer  greatly  in  a  brief  discussion. 
Some  topics  require  much  preliminary  explanation  with  a 
given  audience,  and  some  depend  for  their  force  upon  a 
wealth  of  detail,  as  is  the  case  with  a  speech  intended  to 
impress  the  audience  with  the  character  of  a  person. 

There  may  be  times  when  it  is  important  to  cover  a 
whole  broad  topic  in  a  speech;  but  usually  it  is  best  to 
confine  one's  self  to  a  subdivision  which  can  be  fairly 
treated  in  the  time  allowed.  Yet  only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  can  some  be  made  to  believe  that  it  is  better  to 
give  a  thorough  treatment  of  one  idea,  make  one  point 

stick/'  than  to  give  a  cursory  treatment  of  many  points. 
There  is  a  natural  desire  to  tell  all  one  knows  of  an  intp 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT 


esting  subject,  and  a  liking  for  completeness.  If  one  has 
proved  an  evil,  he  feels  that  he  ought  to  set  forth  a 
remedy.  And  there  is  a  less  worthy  reason  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  easier  to  give  a  superficial  treatment  of  a  large 
topic,  such  as  socialism,  than  a  thoroughgoing  treatment 
of  one  phase.  So  we  have  many  speeches  in  which  many 
points  are  touched  but  all  left  in  confusion,  many  motives 
are  mentioned  but  none  pressed  home,  and  in  which 
neither  evil  nor  remedy  is  established. 
^  In  trying  to  meet  the  very  real  difficulties  imposed  by 
tTlie  limits  of  time,  when  one  wishes  to  speak  on  a  topic 
which  requires  elaboration,  one  should  consider  the  par- 
ticular audience,  and  ask  himself  what  it  can  be  depended 
upon  to  know,  what  its  points  of  view  are,  and  what  it 
believes.  Perhaps  the  audience  in  a  given  case  can  be 
depended  upon  to  agree  that  the  evil  exists.  Then  after 
a  brief  statement  to  put  the  subject  derinitely  before  them, 
the  speaker  can  proceed  at  once  to  the  remedy.  Perhaps 
there  is  one  argument  which  will  draw  others  with  it; 
or  one  motive  that  is  all  sufficient. 

7.  Is. the  topic  too  difficult  for  oral  presentation  under 
the  circumstances?  Subjects  may  be  too  intricate  and 
difficult  for  oral  presentation,  especially  when  there  is 
little  time,  or  when  the  audience  is  not  well  informed 
Some  philosophical  and  scientific  questions  are  not  avail 
able  before  general  audiences;  though  much  depends 
upon  the  skill  of  the  speaker,  as  is  evidenced  by  Huxley's 
lectures  on  Evolution.  I  may  instance  the  following  as 
topics  upon  which  speakers  have  failed  because  of  inher- 
ent difficulties:  The  gyroscope  compass.  The  fourth 
dimension,  Non-Euclidean  geometry,  The  crawl  stroke 
in  swimming. 

Topics  suggested.  Now  that  we  have  some  general 
ideas  on  the  choice  of  themes  for  speeches,  we  may  profit 


S60 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


by  a  list  of  topics,  though  such  a  list  can  be  only  sug- 
gestive. There  is  no  intention  that  students  shall  confine 
themselves  to  this  list ;  nor  is  it  expected  that  they  will 
find  in  many  instances  that  the  subjects  as  stated  are 
exactly  suited  to  their  use.  In  the  first  place,  no  two 
minds  work  just  alike  and  what  one  has  found  good  may 
not  suit  another ;  and  in  the  second  place,  many  of  these 
topics  are  much  too  broadly  stated.  They  are  put  in 
merely  to  suggest  possible  fields,  and  should  be  much 
limited.  The  chief  hope  in  giving  this  list  is  to  make 
the  student  react  by  thinking  of  some  kindred  topic 
which  is  what  he  needs.  The  list  will  do  more  harm  than 
good  if  it  is  made  a  substitute  for  independent  thinking. 
The  classification  is  very  loose;  and  many  of  the  topics 
will  fall  in  one  or  another  class  according  to  treatment. 

Two  final  suggestions :  Do  not  look  for  perfection  in  a 
subject.  Remember,  a  pretty  good  topic  in  time  is  better 
than  an  ideal  topic  that  is  found  too  late  for  good  prep- 
aration. And  do  not  look  rapidly  over  several  pages  of 
topics,  dwelling  upon  none.  A  student  said  to  me  the 
other  day :  ^  *  I  have  looked  over  two  pages  of  your  sug- 
gested topics  and  haven't  found  one  I  could  talk  on  five 
minutes.  ^ '  Of  course  not ;  for  he  did  not  dwell  upon  any 
long  enough  to  get  to  thinking  about  it  and  to  see  what 
its  possibilities  w^ere.  Find  the  group  that  seems  most 
promising,  and  then  go  over  it  slowly,  making  a  little 
analysis  of  any  topic  that  seems  at  all  promising.  Less 
looking  and  more  thinking  is  needed. 

CAMPUS  TOPICS 

The  honor  system :  (One  of  these  phases.)  The  moral  question 
involved.  What  is  "cribbing'*?  The  pure  honor  system.  The 
system  with  machinery  for  enforcement.  Should  students  under 
an  honor  system  be  required  to  report  cheating?  Should  they  \)e 
required  to  place  a  pledge  upon  their  examination  papers?  Should 
there  be  one  system  for  all  the  colleges  of  a  university?  Should 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT 


361 


the  honor  system  be  extended  to  include  compositions,  reports,  etc.? 
Does  the  presence  of  a  proctor  in  any  way  justify  cheating?  The 
student's  sense  of  honor.  May  a  student  ever  conscientiously  help 
another  during  an  examination? 

The  upperclassmen's  right  to  rule.  Faculty  responsibility  for 
student  conduct  and  its  limits.  Should  the  faculty  ever  censor 
student  publications?  Does  the  faculty  govern  too  much?  Should 
there  be  three  days  of  vacation  at  Thanksgiving?  Senior  societies. 
Student  activities  vs.  studious  activities. 

Rise  of  intercollegiate  athletics.  Development  of  football.  Why 
is  football  the  great  student  game?  College  life  without  intercol- 
legiate athletics .  Athletics  and  the  development  of  sportsmanship. 
Athletics  at  Oxford  compared  with  athletics  at   .  Com- 
mercialization of  sport.  Professional  coaches.  Do  athletics  cost 
too  much?  Should  the  university  levy  an  athletic  tax?  Should 
a  varsity  athlete  receive  college  credit  on  easier  terms  than  others? 

Cheer  leaders:  How  select  them?  How  much  leading  should 
they  do?  Ethics  of  cheering  at  games.  Winning  games  from  the 
bleachers.  Limits  of  proper  support  for  a  team.  Let  the  bettei 
team  win.  Should  the  coach  direct  the  game?  Inducing  prepara- 
tory school  "stars"  to  come  to  one's  college. 

Defense  of  the  "grind.**  Value  of  regularity  in  college  routine. 
Students  and  efficiency.  Following  the  crowd  in  college.  The 
excuse  habit.  Should  student  competitions  be  limited  and  regu- 
lated? Does  it  pay  to  go  through  college  if  one  must  earn  his  way 
by  table  waiting,  caring  for  furnaces,  etc.?  How  to  earn  one's  w^ay 
through  college.  Should  students  vote  in  their  college  town? 
Should  a  college  town  be  "dry"?  Large  college  or  small?  Should 
students  be  "rushed"  for  fraternities  in  the  first  term?  Student 
responsibility  for  the  college's  reputation. 

Is  the  main  benefit  of  college  learning  to  deal  with  men?  Is  it 
the  best  place  for  that  purpose?  Is  it  worth  while  to  "play  at 
business"  in  college?  A  liberal  arts  course  for  the  business  man. 
A  liberal  arts  course  for  professional  men.  What  is  a  trained 
mind?  What  is  culture?  What  is  education?  Is  law  a  cultural 
subject?  Engineering?  The  education  of  Oxford.  Of  the  Ger- 
man university.  The  free  elective  system.  Spencer's  view  of  edu- 
cation. When  should  specializing  begin?  Should  the  A.B.  degree 
be  given  for  a  course  which  omits,  for  the  most  part,  the  humani- 
ties? 

Should  attendance  be  required  of  college  students?  Should  a 
student  be  compelled  to  do  his  college  work?  Should  there  be  final 
examinations?  "Confessions  of  an  Undergraduate."  (See  in  the 
Outlook  for  July  28,  1915,  an  article  with  this  title,  and  replies  in 
several  later  numbers.)    Are  our  standards  too  low?    Is  compul- 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


sory  military  drill  in  a  university  a  good  thing?  The  evils  of  free 
tuition. 

Advantages  of  a  year's  leave  of  absence  from  college  during  one's 
course.  Should  a  university  be  advertised?  Are  athletic  teams 
and  glee  clubs  the  best  advertisements  of  a  university?  Should  a 
student  who  is  "working  his  way  through  college"  be  passed  on 
easier  terms  than  others?  Should  an  instructor's  pity  for  a  student 
have  anything  to  do  with  his  marks?  A  student's  idea  of  a  proper 
excuse  system.  Individuality  and  a  college  education.  Should  the 
state  support  higher  education?  Is  there  a  good  return  on  the  in- 
vestment? 

PUBLIC  QUESTIONS 

The  boss  in  politics.  The  sources  of  his  power.  Is  he  a  neces- 
sary evil?  How  may  the  boss  be  eliminated?  How  Tammany 
gets  the  votes.  Literacy  test  for  voters.  The  short  ballot.  The 
recall.  The  initiative.  The  Governor's  initiative.  Commission 
Government.  Experience  of  Galveston  (or  any  other  city  which 
has  tried  commission  government).  Commission  government  for 
large  cities.    City  managers.    Home  rule  for  cities. 

Independence  in  politics.  Party  spirit.  Party  lo3^alty.  The 
Mugwump  movement.  Civil  service  reform.  Curtis,  the  independ- 
ent. Cleveland  and  Civil  service  reform,  "To  the  victor  belongs 
the  spoils."  Mr.  Bryan  on  the  reward  of  party  services.  Is  he 
right?  If  so,  how  far?  Is  strict  party  loyalty  the  best  road  to 
office?    Influence  of  the  independent  voter.    Think  for  yourself. 

Public  ownership  of  water  plants,  of  lighting  plants,  of  street 
railways,  of  telephones.  Inheritance  tax.  Single  tax.  A  living 
wage.    Minimum  wage  laws.    Syndicalism,  or  the  I.  W.  W. 

Immigration:  A  danger  to  our  institutions.  To  labor?  Should 
we  object  to  those  immigrants  who  earn  monej^  and  carry  it  away? 
What  kind  of  immigrants  do  we  want?  Distribution  of  immigrants. 
How  can  we  wisely  restrict  immigration?  Japanese  immigration. 
Is  California  justified  in  her  attitude? 

The  liquor  problem.  Effect  of  alcohol  on  the  human  system. 
Effect  on  the  skilled  worker.  Liquor  and  the  English  factory 
worker.  Temperance  and  teetotalism.  Economics  of  the  liquor 
problem.  Is  prohibition  right  in  principle?  Can  prohibition  pro- 
hibit? The  case  of  Maine.  Of  Kansas.  Local  option.  State 
prohibition.  National  prohibition.  State  dispensary  system. 
Army  canteen.  Liquor  and  the  war.  How  Sw^eden  handles  her 
problem.  The  manufacturer's  attitude.  Sunday  selling.  Personal 
liberty.    Best  attitude  for  young  man  toward  liquor. 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT  S6S 

SOCIAL  PROBLEMS 

The  habitually  poor.  Should  we  let  the  destitute  die  off?  The 
ihrifty  pauper.  Giving  to  beggars.  Organized  charity.  State 
tramp  farms.  Poor  houses.  Children's  homes.  Neighborhood 
nurses.  Pla3^grounds  and  swimming  pools.  Vacant  lots  for  gar- 
dens. Child  labor.  Why  children  work  in  factories.  Why  should 
not  children  work?  Right  of  the  state  to  limit  labor  of  women  and 
children  in  their  freedom  of  contract.  Low  wages  and  morality. 
Welfare  work  of  employers.    Model  villages.    Profit  sharing. 

Criminals  and  vagrants.  The  probation  system.  Juvenile 
courts.  Honor  system  for  convicts.  "Welfare  leagues"  in  prisons. 
Stripes  and  the  lock-step.  Is  the  criminal  x'osponsible  for  his 
crime?  Prison  labor.  Reformatories  vs.  prisons.  Obligation  of 
society  to  provide  healthful  prisons.  Prisons  as  schools  of  crime. 
Insanity  as  a  defense  in  criminal  actions.  Increase  of  homicide  in 
this  country.  Lynching. 

The  feminist  movement:  What  is  it?  Effect  on  marriage.  On 
the  home.  "W^omen,  once  our  superiors,  now  our  equals.'* 
Women,  in  the  industrial  world.  In  education.  As  politicians. 
**Taxation  without  representation."  The  right  to  vote.  Does 
woman  need  the  ballot?  Does  woman  wish  the  ballot?  Women 
and  the  liquor  problem.  Women  as  office-holders.  Militancy. 
Women's  suffrage  and  social  welfare. 

TOPICS  FOR  EXPOSITION 

How  fishes  swim.  (Every  one  thinks  he  knows,  but  few  do  know. 
Such  a  topic  proves  interesting.)  Circulation  of  the  blood.  What 
is  homeopathy?  The  germ  theory  of  disease.  Serum  therapy. 
The  action  of  narcotics.  Fertilization  of  flowers.  Mendel's  law. 
Acquired  characters.  The  weather  map.  How  trencher  are  made. 
Outposts,  Supplying  an  army  in  the  field.  Range  finding.  The 
American  serve  in  tennis.  What  is  religion?  What  is  philosophy? 
Science?  What  is  Hedonism?  Pessimism?  What  is  hypnotism? 
The  origin  of  language.  What  is  socialism?  What  is  gambling? 
What  is  a  contract?  Contributory  negligence.  Intoxication  as  a 
defense.  Conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade.  How  the  workingmen's 
compensation  law  works.    Water  rights. 

How  paper  is  made.  Portland  cement.  Coke  manufacture. 
Hamburg's  filtration  system.  Mine  ventilation.  Slides  in  the 
Panama  Canal.  Building  the  Detroit  River  tunnel.  Principle  of 
a  four-cycle  gas  engine.  The  carburetter.  The  magneto.  Mak- 
ing fertilizer  from  the  air.  Perpetual  motion.  Why  the  aeroplane 
flies.  How  a  phonograph  works.  How  a  horse  is  trained.  How 
the  salt  beds  2,000  feet  under  Ithaca  were  formed. 


364 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


SUBJECTS  FOR  PERSUASION 

Most  of  the  topics  suggested  in  this  list  may  be  treated  per- 
suasively. If  you  wish  to  urge  your  hearers  to  do  something  to 
which  they  have  no  strong  objections,  take  such  a  theme  as,  The 
need  of  exercise,  Read  good  books,  Don't  waste  your  time,  Take 
an  active  part  in  politics.  Keep  out  of  debt. 

If  you  are  to  make  a  speech  to  exercise  your  skill  in  securing 
conviction  when  strong  beliefs  and  prejudices  are  involved,  choose 
such  as  these :  Professional  coaches  should  be  abolished,  The  Uni- 
versity should  impose  an  athletic  tax.  Immigration  should  be 
checked.  National  prohibition,  Garrison  deserves  our  gratitude, 
There  should  be  a  censorship  of  moving  pictures,  Sunday  tennis,  A 
larger  navy,  Gas-electric  cars  are  best  adapted  to  the  line. 

HISTORICAL 

Origin  of  the  Constitution.  States  rights  and  centralization. 
(May  be  treated  historically  and  also  as  related  to  present.)  Why 
the  Union  was  formed.  Problems  confronting  the  constitutional 
convention.  Compromise  in  the  Constitution.  Development  by  in- 
terpretation. Comparison  with  the  British  constitution.  Strict 
construction.  John  Marshall.  Hamilton.  Jefferson.  Madison. 
Responsibility  of  the  President.  Slavery  in  the  Constitution.  New 
England  and  the  war  of  1812.  Calhoun  and  nullification.  Web- 
ster and  the  Union.  Hayne's  speech.  Clay's  work  for  harmony. 
Compromise  of  1820.  Of  1850.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  struggle. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  Jefferson  Davis. 
John  Brown.  Garrison.  Why  the  war  came.  What  if  war  had 
been  avoided.  Reconstruction.  The  United  States  and  secret  di- 
plomacy. The  acquisition  of  California  as  "land-grabbing."  Eng- 
land and  the  violation  of  neutrality. 

Jefferson :  The  man.  Early  career.  In  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. In  France.  As  Secretary  of  State.  Jefferson  and  Adams. 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton.  As  President.  The  Louisiana  purchase. 
The  patron  saint  of  democracy. 

ETHICAL 

**My  Country,  may  she  always  be  right ;  but — right  or  wrong — mj 
Country."  "My  Country,  right  or  wrong.  If  right,  to  keep  her 
right;  if  wrong,  to  set  her  right."  Is  the  Golden  Rule  workable? 
Is  returning  good  for  evil  practicable?    Is  non-resistance  feasible? 

The  philosophy  of  Omar's  Ruhaiyat.  The  view  of  life  presented 
in  EccJesiastes.  Longfellow's  Psalm  of  Life.  Jacques  in  You 
Like  It,    Tennyson's  Palace  of  Art.    Browning's  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra. 


I  SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT  365 

Vbe  epicurean.    The  active  life  and  happiness.    Education  and 
happiness.    Aim  in  life.    The  ideal  life.    The  Puritan.  Puritan 
and  Quaker.    Puritan  and  Cavalier.    A  typical  Puritan.  Puritan 
and  tolerance.    Puritan  as  pictured  by  Hawthorne. 


MISCELLANEOUS 

Smoke  prevention  in  cities  should  be  compulsory.  Should  the 
Chicago  terminals  be  electrified?  Use  of  the  open  caisson.  Should 
the  course  in  civil  engineering  be  made  five  years?  Should  en- 
gineers be  required  to  take  out  licenses?  Government  control  of 
v^ater  powers.  Motor  fuel.  Should  engineering  students  be  re- 
quired to  take  English?  Economics?  Engineer  as  manager.  En- 
gineer and  public  affairs. 

What  is  architecture?  Architecture  of  Stanford  University. 
The  Parthenon.  The  Pantheon.  The  Grand  Central  Station  in 
New  York  City.  Its  arrangement.  Its  style.  Foundations  of  the 
Woolworth  building.  Sewage  disposal  for  the  country  home.  In- 
direct lighting  for  the  home.  Thomas  Jefferson  as  an  architect. 
Dealing  with  patrons.    With  contractors. 

The  lawyer  in  history.  In  Greece.  In  Rome.  In  England.  In 
foreign  lands  to-day.  The  law  as  a  learned  profession.  As  a  busi- 
ness. As  a  stepping  stone  to  other  businesses.  College  trained  or 
office  trained.  Lawyer  as  citizen.  As  public  man.  As  legislator. 
As  leader.  Ethics  of  law  practice.  Defense  of  the  guilty.  Duty 
to  client.  To  the  court.  The  shyster.  The  ambulance  chaser. 
Contingent  fees.  The  criminal  lawyer.  The  office  lawyer.  The 
trial  lawyer.  The  corporation  lawyer.  Psychology  and  legal  evi- 
dence. Cross-examination.  The  law's  delays.  Necessity  for  tech- 
nicalities. Excess  of  technicalities.  How  judges  make  law.  A 
great  lawyer.  A  great  case.  McCulloch  vs.  Maryland.  The  Dart- 
mouth College  case.    Allen  vs.  Flood.    Gibbons  vs.  Ogden. 

Origin  of  medicine.  Hippocrates,  father  of  medicine.  Medicine 
one  hundred  years  ago.  Harvey.  Hahnemann.  Osteopathy.  Viv- 
isection. 

Journalism  :  Rise  of.  "Let  me  make  the  newspapers  and  I  care 
not  who  makes  the  religion  or  the  laws."  The  press  as  an  educa- 
tor. Freedom  of  the  press.  Necessary  limitations.  Censorship  of 
the  press.  Political  power  of  the  press.  The  partisan  newspaper. 
Is  the  associated  press  a  dangerous  monopoly?  Journalistic  enter- 
prise and  yellow  journalism.  Stealing  private  papers.  Attacks 
on  public  men.  Journalistic  blackmail.  Plea  that  the  public  de- 
mands sensationalism.  The  New  York  American  as  a  newspaper 
type.  The  New  York  Evening  Post.  Philadelphia  North  Ameri- 
can. Kansas  City  Star.  Horace  Greeley.  Charles  A.  Dana.  E. 
L.  Godkin.    W.  R.  Hearst.    My  ideal  newspaper.  Responsibility 


366 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


for  advertising.    For  error.    How  much  should  we  read  the  pa- 
pers?   The  weekly  reviews. 

The  theater.  Drama  in  Athens.  In  Rome.  The  miracle  plays. 
The  Chinese  stage.  In  the  days  of  Shakespeare.  "Legitimate" 
drama  of  to-day.  Musical  comedy.  Effect  of  moving  pictures  on 
theater  business.  Upon  drama.  The  sex  play.  "Damaged  Goods." 
Shakespeare  and  Shaw.  The  college  play.  The  endowed  theater. 
The  theater  in  Germany.  Joe  Jefferson.  Henry  Irving.  Char- 
lotte Cushman. 

Agitation  and  reform.  Philosophy  of  reform.  Of  agitation.  Of 
conservatism.  Of  compromise.  Lincoln  and  Garrison  compared. 
Methods  of  agitation.  j 

Democracy.  How  much  of  it  do  we  want.  Vox  populi,  vox  dei. 
Democracy  as  an  educator.  Democracy  and  efficiency.  And  genius. 
As  a  moral  force.  \ 

Advertising.  Attention  and  advertising.  Advertising  as  persua-  j 
sion.  Repetition  in  advertising.  Oatch  phrases.  Waste  in  adver-  , 
tising.    Does  honest  advertising  pay? 

Disregard  for  law.    American  tendency  to  tolerate  abuses.    The  , 
futility  and  worth  of  institutions.    Multiple  personality.    Modern  | 
dancing.    Novel  reading.    How  to  read  books.    "Seeing  is  believ- 
ing." 

SPECIAL  PROGRAMS  i 

The  suggestions  which  follow  are  especially  for  teachers  rather  1 
than  for  students,  but  might  help  the  latter  also.    They  are  the 
product  of  experience  with  classes  in  extemporaneous  speaking,  ' 
where  a  number  of  speakers  are  asked  to  treat  the  same  general 
topic.    Many  of  the  subjects  above  have  been  used  in  the  same 
way. 

As  a  method  of  killing  two  birds  with  one  stone,  I  ask  each 
speaker  to  prepare  a  lecture  upon  some  part  of  a  text  on  public 
speaking ;  say  Phillips's  Effective  Speaking,  Not  much  originality 
is  expected,  except  in  illustration.  The  text  may  be  used  to  a 
reasonable  extent  during  the  talk.  Members  of  the  class  may  ask 
questions,  and  are  held  responsible  for  the  content  of  the  lectures 
on  examination. 

A  similar  program  can  be  worked  out  without  reference  to  a  par- 
ticular work,  with  such  topics  as  introductions,  conclusions,  ethics 
of  borrowing,  courtesy  to  opponents. 

A  character  sketch.  Each  speaker  is  to  present  an  actual  char- 
acter so  that  the  character  shall  seem  real  and  significant.  The 
chairman,  a  member  of  the  class,  may  speak  upon  the  significance 
of  biography.  Directions  to  the  class  are  something  like  these : 
Make  your  hearers  acquainted  with  the  personality  you  present. 


SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT 


Choose  a  person  you  know  at  first-hand,  or  of  whom  you  have  inti- 
mate knowledge.  Let  your  character  be  one  worth  considering, 
though  not  necessarily  famous,  and  to  you  either  admirable  or  the 
opposite.  Do  not  choose  a  familiar  figure  of  the  campus  or  of  the 
press,  because  there  would  be  no  real  test  of  effectiveness.  Con- 
sider which  method  will  be  most  effective :  a  connected  biography, 
or  selected  incidents  arranged  about  certain  characteristics.  Note 
well  that  no  abstract  presentation  of  qualities  can  make  a  character 
^'convincing.'* 

Variation  of  the  preceding :  Let  each  speaker  present,  A  hero  of 
mine. 

Each  speaker  is  to  make  a  speech  upon  some  one  characteristic  of 
Lincoln  (or  other  well  known  character),  using  at  least  one  incident 
from  his  life  as  an  illustration.  The  story  is  to  be  orderly,  clear 
and  to  the  point.  Details  are  to  be  chosen  that  give  a  definite  im- 
pression, without  superfluity  and  without  barrenness.  The  story 
must  really  illustrate,  and  not  be  dragged  in. 

Each  speaker  is  to  make  a  speech,  on  any  subject  he  likes,  in  which 
he  uses  a  story,  or  other  illustration,  in  such  a  way  that  it  aids  in 
making  the  point.  It  must  not  be  used  for  its  own  sake.  If  noth- 
ing else  occurs  to  one,  he  may  turn  to  iEsop's  fables. 

(The  purpose  of  the  two  preceding  exercises  is  to  encourage  the 
use  of  illustrations.  Students  rarely  use  them,  and  when  told  to, 
think  of  nothing  but  stale  banquet  stories.  Insist  upon  pith,  point 
and  propriety.  In  order  to  impress  certain  points  about  story  tell- 
ing I  often  have  an  exercise  with  stories  reproduced  from  such  writ- 
ers as  Hawthorne,  Poe,  Kipling.  This  is  always  enjoyed  and  serves 
to  some  extent  to  awaken  the  artistic  sense.) 

Each  speaker  on  the  program  is  to  read  the  articles  in  the  'Nation 
entitled.  Observations  in  a  Big  University,  Vol.  76,  at  pages  66  and 
88,  and  speak  on  a  topic  suggested  by  them.  (They  have  to  do 
with  culture,  democracy,  commonness,  table  waiting,  social  life,  etc. 
Is  the  writer  a  snob,  or  is  she  right?) 

Description  of  a  phase  of  real  life  in  a  community  well  known  to 
the  speaker,  but  not  to  the  audience,  if  possible.  Choose  with  care 
means  of  making  it  real  to  us, — setting,  anecdote,  customs,  sayings, 
occupations,  pleasures,  anything  that  will  serve  to  fix  a  definite  pic- 
ture in  our  minds,  or  make  the  life  real  to  us.  Do  not  try  to  con- 
vey merely  the  unique  features. 

Describe  a  scene  to  give  a  definite  impression,  as  of  its  grandeur, 
desolation,  variety,  etc. 

Again,  the  aim  may  be  simply  to  make  the  audience  see  the  scene 
as  it  is.    Give  special  attention  to  point  of  view. 

Religion:  My  point  of  view.  It  is  understood  that  each  will 
speak  frankly,  but  with  entire  courtesy  towards  those  who  differ. 


368 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


(I  never  submit  this  topic  without  securing  the  assent  of  all  the 
class  to  these  conditions.) 

One  good  reason  for  voting  for  (any  candidate  of  general  inter- 
est).   (This  program  is  for  use  just  before  election.) 

The  liquor  problem.    My  solution. 

What  I  get  enthusiastic  about. 

Discussion  by  each  member  of  one  of  the  best  articles  that  has  re- 
cently appeared. 

My  favorite  book.    (Make  your  hearers  want  to  read  it.) 

Read  with  care  Dickinson^s  Letters  of  a  Chinese  Official,  and  be 
prepared  to  speak  upon  any  topic  assigned  from  it.  Have  your 
ideas  in  usable  form.    Attack  or  defend  the  book  as  you  please. 


CHAPTER  XI 


FINDING  MATERIAL — ORIGINALITY 

The  efficient  use  of  the  stores  of  material  in  a  library- 
is  an  art  worthy  your  attention;  and  an  art  so  difficult 
that  its  adequate  treatment  demands  a  volume  written 
by  an  expert.  A  few  suggestions  helpful  to  the  average 
reader  can  be  offered  here. 

Finding  the  Books.  Make  a  beginning  on  im^proving 
the  efficiency  of  your  research,  by  going  into  the  best 
library  within  reach  and  brov/sing .  around.  If  the 
library  publishes  a  descriptive  pamphlet,  obtain  a  copy 
to  aid  you.  Acquaint  yourself  with  the  methods  of 
cataloguing.  You  will  find  that  books  are  entered  in 
two  ways:  under  the  author's  family  name  and  under 
the  subject;  and  that  only  a  few  are  entered  under  their 
titles. 

If  one  goes  to  a  library  to  find  the  works  of  an  author 
whose  name  is  known,  the  matter  is  comparatively  simple. 
Certain  methods  of  cataloguing  should,  however,  be  noted. 
The  following  is  taken  from  the  published  suggestions 
of  the  Cornell  University  Library : 

Books  are  entered  under  the  author's  family  name, 
unless  an  author  has  consistently  used  an  assumed  name. 
A  nobleman  is  entered  under  the  title  of  nobility,  and  a 
married  woman  under  her  last  married  name. 

English  compound  names  are  arranged  under  the  last 
part,  e.  g.,  Lane-Poole,  under  Poole;  foreign  names  under 
the  first  part,  e.  g.,  Pardo-Bazan  under  Pardo. 

' '  Prefixes  to  English  names,  e.  a.,  De  Quincey,  Van 

369 


370 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Buren,  etc.,  form  a  part  of  the  name  and  determine  their 
place  in  the  alphabet;  prefixes  to  French,  Spanish  and 
Italian  names  when  they  are  articles,  e.  g.,  LaFayette, 
are  a  part  of  the  name  and  determine  the  place  in  the 
catalogue,  but  other  prefixes  like  the  preposition  de,  von, 
van,  etc.,  of  foreign  names  except  Russian,  are  disre- 
garded in  the  alphabetical  arrangement.  Names  begin- 
ning with  M',  Mc,  St.,  Ste.,  are  arranged  as  if  spelled 
Mac,  Saint,  Sainte.  The  German  umlauts  a,  o,  ii,  are 
arranged  as  a,  o,  u." 

By  a  little  experimenting  you  can  determine  whether 
or  not  your  library  follows  the  same  methods.  Do  not 
fail  to  experiment  while  you  consider  this  chapter,  and 
translate  the  suggestions  into  working  methods  by 
actually  handling  the  catalogues,  indexes  and  reference 
books  mentioned. 

The  greater  difficulty  arises  when  one  goes  to  a  library 
to  find  works  on  a  given  subject,  without  knowledge  of 
the  authors.  A  reference  librarian  tells  me  that  the  chief 
cause  of  failure  is  the  tendency  to  look  in  the  catalogue 
under  the  single  word  the  searcher  has  in  mind  as  repre- 
senting his  subject.  A  student  once  told  me  he  could 
find  nothing  of  value  on  the  subject  of  Criminology  in 
a  library  of  more  than  400,000  volumes.  A  half-hour 
of  searching  by  one  who  is  certainly  no  expert  revealed 
more  than  could  be  read  in  a  w^eek.  The  student  would 
have  been  helped  by  the  following  suggestions : 

If  you  do  not  find  books  under  the  subject  heading  you 
have  in  mind,  try  other  words  of  related  meaning;  for 
example,  if  you  do  not  find  Reformatories  try  Prisons, 
and  keep  trying  until  you  find  what  you  want,  or  exhaust 
your  vocabulary  of  words  that  might  form  the  heading 
for  the  desired  books.  You  are  likely  to  come  soon  upon 
a  ^^see"  reference.  Thus  the  Library  of  Congress  has 
no  works  catalogued  under  the  heading  Penology,  but 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  S71 


under  that  heading  refers  to  Prisons,  Punishments,  Re- 
formatories. Turning  to  these  headings,  you  will  find 
long  lists  of  books  directly  upon  these  topics;  and  you 
will  find  ^'see  also''  references  to  related  topics.  Look 
for  the  cards  bearing  the  '^see  also"  references  at  the  end 
of  the  alphabetical  list  of  works  under  a  particular  sub- 
ject heading.  For  example,  in  the  Cornell  University 
Library,  the  catalogue,  after  a  long  list  of  books  under 
Penology,  has  '^see  also"  references  to  Criminal  Law, 
Prisons,  Reformatories,  Pardon,  Punishment,  Crime, 
Capital  punishment,  Degeneration,  Commutation  of 
sentence.  Detectives,  Foundlings,  Manslaughter,  Insan- 
ity— Responsibility,  Immoral  literature,  Trials — Crim- 
inal, Temperance,  Women — Crime,  Police  Power,  Wil- 
liam Shakespeare — Criminal  characters.  Suicide. 

You  should  notice  that  under  a  given  subject  heading 
the  general,  unclassified  works  are  placed  first,  alpha- 
betized according  to  the  authors'  names,  and  that  after 
these  are  placed,  in  distinct  alphabetical  lists,  books  under 
various  subheads.  Give  a  few  minutes  to  observing  the 
use  of  the  guide  cards;  that  is,  the  cards  that  stand  up 
above  the  catalogue  cards.  It  helps  to  note  that  author 
and  title  headings  on  the  catalogue  cards  are  lettered  in 
black,  while  subject  cards  have  headings  in  red.  On 
an  author  card,  sometimes  on  the  face,  sometimes  on  the 
back,  you  will  usually  find  the  subject  under  which  the 
book  is  classified,  and  this  will  aid  you  in  looking  up 
other  works  on  the  same  subject.  Note  that  govern- 
ments, states,  cities,  etc.,  and  organizations  which  publish 
reports  and  other  works  concerning  their  affairs,  are 
treated  as  authors  of  their  publications.  Some  difficulty 
may  arise  in  finding  the  reports  of  a  body  which  has  in 
its  name  the  name  of  a  political  division.  Do  not  look 
for  a  report  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  in  its 


S72 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


alphabetical  order  under  United  States,  but  in  a  distinct 
list  after  all  the  publications  of  the  national  government. 

Much  time  can  be  saved  in  finding  the  literature  on 
a  subject,  if  you  can  get  hold  of  a  bibliography  of  the 
books  and  articles  relating  to  it.  The  card  catalogue 
may  reveal  the  existence  of  such  a  bibliography  in  your 
library.  Look  for  the  catalogue  cards  describing  bibli- 
ographies in  the  alphabetical  position  of  the  word 
bibliography  among  the  subheads  of  your  subject.  Get 
the  use  for  a  half -hour  of  Kroeger's  Guide  to  the  Study 
and  Use  of  Reference  Books.  Or  turn  to  the  American 
Library  Annual,  v^hich  publishes  lists  of  bibliographies 
on  all  sorts  of  subjects.  A  librarian  can  sometimes  ob- 
tain for  you  a  bibliography  on  a  topic  of  large  public 
interest  from  the  Library  of  Congress.  Articles  in 
cyclopedias  frequently  include  bibliographies.  The 
Booh  Review  Digest,  an  evaluation  of  literature/'  gives 
brief  notices  of  the  newest  books. 

The  American  Catalogue  of  Books,  1876  to  date,  The 
English  Catalogue  of  Books,  1801  to  date,  and  the  Amer- 
ican book-trade  publications.  The  United  States  Cata- 
logue of  Books  in  Print  in  1912,  continued  by  the 
Cumulative  Book  Index,  issued  annually,  and  Publishers^ 
Weekly,  the  Peabody  Institute  Library  Catalogue  (in- 
cluding both  books  and  periodicals),  and  the  catalogue 
of  the  Library  of  Congress  (a  card  catalogue  is  found 
in  twenty-five  of  the  largest  libraries  of  the  country), — 
any  or  all  of  these  may  serve  to  inform  you  of  the  books 
in  existence  on  a  given  subject;  and  though  the  books 
you  want  may  not  be  in  your  library,  still  you  may  be 
able  to  obtain  them  by  purchase,  by  visiting  a  larger 
library,  or  by  loan  through  the  good  offices  of  the  head 
of  your  library. 

The  periodicals.    As  a  guide  to  magazine  articles  we 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  373 


have  Poole's  Index  to  Periodical  Literature.  Read  its 
introduction  to  learn  its  system.  Note  in  particular  the 
system  of  ^  *  see  also ' '  references.  This  covers  the  period 
of  1882  to  1910.  For  later  years  we  have  the  Reader's 
Guide.  It  is  published  monthly  and  cumulated  in  yearly 
volumes.  It  began  in  1902,  under  the  name  of  the  Cumu- 
lative Index,  There  is  also  the  Magazine  Suhject-Index 
and  Dramatic  Index.  It  began  in  1908.  Its  monthly 
edition  is  the  Bulletin  of  Bibliography  and  Dramatic 
Index. 

For  finding  articles  in  newspapers  we  may  turn  to  the 
yearly  indexes  published  by  the  London  Times  and  the 
New  York  Times.  These  may  be  used  for  other  papers 
by  taking  the  dates  as  clues.  The  indexes  of  such  weekly 
and  monthly  publications  as  review  current  events  will 
help  in  fixing  the  dates  of  newspaper  items.  The  Ameri- 
can Library  Annual  has  an  index  to  dates  of  importance 
in  each  year,  and  the  hiformation  Quarterly  is  a  digest 
of  current  events  that  can  be  used  with  newspaper  files. 
You  will  probably  find  in  your  library  the  bound  volumes 
of  several  daily  and  weekly  papers. 

Legislation,  investigations,  reports,  etc.  The  Public 
Information  Service  is  a  bi-monthly  index  to  investiga- 
tions into  state  and  municipal  problems,  court  decisions 
on  constitutional  questions,  proceedings  of  international, 
national,  state  and  municipal  organizations,  civic  and 
social  organizations,  bar  associations,  and  important 
legislation.  Turn  to  the  card  catalogue  in  a  large  library, 
and  look  over  the  list  of  reports  published  by  any  state, 
upon  labor,  taxation,  insurance,  education,  etc.  Look, 
for  example,  under  the  heading  '^Wisconsin."  Basse's 
Index  of  Economic  Material  in  the  Documents  of  the 
States  of  the  United  States  is  a  valuable  aid. 

United  States  (government  publications,    You  will  see 


374 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


by  Kroeger's  Guide  that  these  are  extremely  numerous. 
Among  the  more  important  are  the  Abstract  of  the 
Census,  the  Statistical  Abstract,  dealing  with  population, 
finance,  eonmierce,  products,  immigration  and  education ; 
Catalogue  of  the  Public  Documents  of  the  United  States ; 
and  the  Congressional  Record,  There  are  index  volumes 
for  finding  speeches  in  the  Record.  The  Record  does  not 
include  bills,  which  can  sometimes  be  obtained  from  your 
congressman.  Those  passed  may  be  found  by  consulting 
the  Catalogue  of  Public  Documents  or  in  the  United 
States  Statutes.  To  find  the  report  of  a  department  look 
in  the  library  catalogue  under  United  States''  for  the 
name  of  the  department.  Many  of  these  reports  can  be 
obtained  by  sending  a  request  to  the  proper  department. 
You  should  become  familiar  with  some  of  the  special 
i^eports,  as  the  Report  of  the  United  States  Industrial 
Commission. 

One  often  wishes  to  gain  information  in  regard  to 
particular  facts  rather  than  to  find  a  book  to  read  as  a 
whole  upon  his  subject ;  and  a  vast  number  of  works  to 
supply  this  need  have  been  and  are  constantly  being 
compiled.  One  should  not  despair,  before  looking  in 
these,  of  finding  out  any  fact  that  has  interest  for  any 
considerable  number  of  persons.  It  will  prove  profitable 
to  look  these  compilations  over,  searching  for  informa- 
tion on  any  topics  which  come  to  mind. 

The  year  books:  The  New  International  Year  Book; 
The  American  Year  Book;  The  Statesman's  Year  Book, 
trustworthy  and  especially  valuable  as  giving  the  sources 
for  all  kinds  of  statistics;  the  World  Almanac;  the 
Tribune  Almanac.  You  should  own  one  of  these 
almanacs. 

For  historical  facts  see:  Harper's  Book  of  Facts, 
Ilayden's  Dictionary  of  Dates;  Larned's  History  for 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  875 


Beady  Reference;  Ploetz's  Epitome  of  Ancient,  Medieval 
and  Modern  History.  These  are,  of  course,  chiefly  useful 
for  finding  isolated  facts,  and  are  not  to  take  the  place 
of  more  complete  works. 

For  biographical  facts:  The  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,  the  most  comprehensive  work  of  its  kind,  but 
includes  no  living  persons;  Lippincott's  Biographical 
Dictionary,  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century;  the 
National  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  devoted 
mainly  to  contemporaries,  1892-1901;  Who's  Who,  an 
English  work;  Who's  Who  in  America;  Allibone's  Crit- 
ical Dictionary  of  English  Literature  and  British  and 
American  Authors, 

For  literary  facts:  Granger's  Index  to  Poetry  and 
Recitation,  giving  titles,  authors  and  first  lines;  Peet's 
Who's  the  Authar?  a  brief  account  of  novels,  stories, 
speeches,  songs  and  general  writing  in  America ;  Brewer's 
Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable,  ' '  giving  the  derivation, 
source,  or  origin  of  common  phrases,  allusions  and  words 
that  have  a  tale  to  tell";  Brewer's  Reader's  Handbook 
of  famous  names  in  fiction,  allusions,  references,  proverbs, 
plots,  stories  and  poems;  Bartlett's  Familiar  Quotations; 
Dictionary  of  Quotations,  by  Harbottle  and  others,  in- 
cluding quotations  classical  and  modern,  in  English  and 
in  foreign  tongues. 

If  you  are  working  on  the  selection.  Who  is  to  Blame, 
in  Chapter  XIV,  and  wish  to  learn  about  Jeremy  Diddler, 
look  in  Brewer's  Reader '^s  Handbook,  or  in  Webster's 
New  International  Dictionary,  in  the  lower  division  of 
the  page ;  but  if  you  wish  to  learn  about  Dick  Turpin  or 
Jonathan  Wild,  who  were  real  characters,  or  about 
Tweed,  who  is  referred  to  under  the  name  of  Wild,  look 
in  a  biographical  dictionary. 

Finally,  one  of  the  most  expeditious  and  satisfactory 


376 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ways  of  finding  material  is  to  ask  an  expert  in  the  subject 
what  the  authoritative  books  are.  If  you  ask  at  the  right 
time  and  in  the  right  way,  he  will  usually  be  glad  to  help 
you.  Make  free  use  of  the  services  of  the  reference 
librarian:  he  is  there  to  help  you.  But  do  not  expect 
him  to  do  your  work  for  you :  be  satisfied  when  he  has 
shown  you  how  to  help  yourself. 

What  to  read.  Any  book  or  article  on  your  subject 
may  be  worth  reading;  if  not  for  its  information  and 
arguments,  at  least  for  its  viewpoints.  But  when  there 
is  a  great  mass  of  material  at  hand,  it  is  usually  wise  to 
pick  and  choose.  In  any  case,  you  will  do  well  to  read 
the  batter  works  first.  How  shall  you  know  which  are 
the  better  works?  You  may  ask  a  specialist  in  the  sub- 
ject. From  your  searches  through  catalogues  and  in- 
dexes you  will  gain  some  impressions  as  to  who  are  the 
important  writers  on  the  subject.  You  can  infer  some- 
thing of  their  standings  by  observing  the  character  of 
the  publications  which  accept  their  articles.  You  can 
observe  which  books  are  recommended,  or  noted  as  im- 
portant, in  the  most  bibliographies.  From  articles  read 
you  can  gain  some  idea  of  the  names  which  are  generally 
respected.  You  can  learn  from  title  pages  and  from 
Who's  Who  of  the  works  produced  and  positions  held  by 
your  authors ;  or  you  may  be  able  to  find  a  more  author- 
itative biography.  You  can  judge  from  the  date  of  publi- 
cation whether  the  work  represents  the  latest  views, — a 
matter  of  much  more  importance  in  some  subjects  than 
in  others.  None  of  this  evidence  is  conclusive,  but  any 
of  it  may  be  helpful  in  determining  whether  a  book  is 
authoritative  and  what  discounts  to  make.  When  in 
regard  to  such  a  remarkable  history  as  that  contained  in 
Prince's  Dissociation  of  Personality,  I  ask  a  psychological 
friend  if  it  is  to  be  taken  at  face  value,  and  am  told,  Yes, 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  377 


so  far  as  facts  go,"  I  know  how  to  read  the  book.  Of 
course,  the  final  test  of  a  book  is  the  book  itself ;  but  the 
less  versed  one  is  in  a  subject  the  more  one  needs  aid  in 
selecting  reading  upon  it.  The  tests  for  authorities,  set 
down  in  Chapter  IX,  may  be  reviewed  and  applied 
here. 

i  In  any  case,  do  not  be  satisfied  with  reading  a  careless 
I  article,  or  with  reading  one  article  or  book.  Read  enough 
to  gain  a  comprehensive  view  of  your  subject,  and  to 
learn  the  various  opinions  held  in  regard  to  it. 
I^How  to  read.  In  taking  up  a  book,  examine  title  page, 
l^reface  and  introduction.  These  will  enable  you  to 
understand  the  book  better,  because  you  will  know  better 
what  the  author  has  tried  to  do,  the  scope  of  the  work, 
its  point  of  view  and  its  limitations.  You  will  be  better 
able  to  decide,  tofl,  whether  it  is  an  impartial  statement 
of  facts,  or  a  statement  of  facts  manipulated  to  establish 
a  thesis.  Look  at  the  table  of  contents  to  get  the  plan 
of  the  chapters;  and  look  over  the  index,  or  the  index 
volume  if  you  are  dealing  with  a  set  of  works.  Time 
spent  in  getting  acquainted  with  a  book  will  save  time. 

As  for  the  actual  reading,  what  better  can  be  said  than 
was  said  long  ago  by  Bacon?  ^  '!^„§d  not  to  contradict 
and  confute,  nor  to  believe  and  take  for  granted,  nor  to 
find  talk  and  discourse,  but  j:o  weigh  and  consider.'' 
Read,  that  is,  open-mindedly,  not  with  awe  of  the  printed 
page,  not  simply  to  find  support  for  your  owji  views, 
ignoring  or  rejecting  all  that  refute  them,  and  not  simply 
to  find  pat  quotations  or  something  to  fill  up  with ;  but 
with  mind  alert  for  all  the  truth  and  with  critical  judg- 
ment. Read  and  think,  and  think  more  than  you  read. 
Compare  what  you  read  with  what  you  already  have  in 
mind.  Keep  in  mind  as  you  read  any  special  bias  of  the 
1  Bacon  s  Essays,  On  Studies. 


378 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


writer;  for  example,  in  reading  Mills  or  Eicardo  on 
economies,  remember  that  they  wrote  as  believers  in  the 
doctrine  of  laissez  faire. 

Bacon  continues:  ^^Some  books  are  to  be  tasted,  \ 
others  to  be  swallowed,  and  some  few  to  be  chewed  and  ! 
digested ;  that  is,  some  books  are  to  be  read  only  in  parts ; 
others  are  to  be  read  but  not  curiously  [carefully]  ;  and 
some  few  are  to  be  read  wholly,  with  diligence  and  atten-  ^ 
tion."  Ability  to  skim  books  wisely  is  needed  by  every 
reader ;  but  it  seems  that  students  to-day  are  sent  through 
so  many  books  in  haste,  in  the  preparation  of  so  many 
ill-digested  papers,  that  there  is  danger  that  they  will 
never  gain  the  ability  to  master,  or  exhaust  the  possibili- 
ties of  a  page.  The  work  with  selections  is  a  help  to 
thorough  reading.  ''Beware  of  the  man  of  one  book,'' 
says  a  proverb,  and  like  most  proverbs  this  expresses  a. 
great  half  truth.  The  man  of  one  book  is  likely  to  be 
narrow  and  to  overlook  the  possibilities  of  the  opposition ; 
but  his  complete  mastery  of  one  view  of  a  subject  makes 
him  a  dangerous  antagonist  for  the  man  of  vague  ideas 
and  information.  The  speaker  should  read  rather  widely 
that  he  may  know  all  sides  of  his  question,  and  thus  be 
honest  with  himself  and  his  audience,  and  also  know  what 
to  expect  from  the  opposition;  but  he  shouldv' ! c^iew  and 
digest' '  some  of  the  best  works  on  his  subject.' 

Taking  notes.  At  times  one  may  read  just  to  soak 
himself  full  of  a  subject,  and  wish  few  notes;  but  most 
often  he  wastes  time  if  he  does  not  pin  down  what  he 
reads.  The  ideas  which  seem  perfectly  clear  as  he  reads, 
grow  hazy  and  slip  from  memory;  the  facts  which  he  is 
sure  he  can  remember  or  turn  to  when  he  needs  them, 
quite  elude  him.  He  may  wish  to  use  them  a  long  time 
after  his  reading. 

Some  may  prefer  to  read  a  book  through  before  taking 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  379 


notes ;  others  to  take  notes  as  they  read.  A  good  method 
is  merely  to  jot  down  on  a  slip  (Do  not  mark  the  book 
unless  it  is  your  own ! )  the  pages  on  which  useful  matter 
is  to  be  found,  and  then  make  complete  notes  after  finish- 
ing the  book.  As  for  the  manner  of  taking  notes,  the 
following  suggestions  are  offered,  in  addition  to  what  was 
said  in  Chapter  IV : 

1.  Use  cards  of  uniform  size,  the  size  you  determine 
is  best  for  your  card  index. 

2.  Place  on  a  card  matter  relating  to  one  sub-topic  only. 

3.  Quote  from  the  original  source,  if  possible. 

4.  Always  make  an  exact  reference  to  the  source  at  the 
time  you  make  a  note.  You  may  wish  to  state  this  in 
answer  to  a  challenge,  or  to  return  to  the  book  for  veri- 
fication or  additions. 

5.  Quote  exactly,  and  use  quotation  marks. 

6.  ''Indicate  omissions  by  means  of  dots,  thus  .  . 

7.  ''When  you  supply  your  own  words  inside  a  quota- 
tion, inclose  them  in  brackets  [thus]." 

8.  "Indicate  at  the  top  of  each  card  the  main  subject 
or  issue  to  which  the  evidence  relates,  and  the  sub-topic. ' ' 


PERSUASION  THEORY 


Jameis,  Psychology :    Briefer  Course,  p.  452. 

"We  thus  find  that  [Italics  J's]  we  reach 
the  heart  of  our  inquiry  into  volition  when 
we  ask  by  what  process  .  .  .  the  thought  of 
any  given  action  comes  to  prevail  stably  in 
the  mind/' 


^  I  am  drawing  freely  here  from  Foster's  Argtimentaiion  and  De- 
late, p.  78. 


380 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Do  not  imagine  that  these  suggestions  are  intended 
to  make  extra  work.  If  I  had  followed  for  the  past 
twenty  years  the  advice  I  am  giving,  I  should  have  saved 
myself  much  waste  of  time  and  labor. 

As  a  final  suggestion  on  reading :  Do  not  suppose  that 
a  speaker  should  depend  entirely  upon  special  reading 
for  a  given  speech.  Phillips  Brooks  said  to  the  Yale 
divinity  students :  ^ 

**One  preacher  depends  for  his  sermon  on  special 
reading.  Each  discourse  is  the  result  of  work  done  in 
the  week  in  which  it  is  written.  .  .  .  Another  preacher 
studies  and  thinks  with  far  more  industry,  is  always 
gathering  truth  into  his  mind,  but  it  is  not  gathered 
with  reference  to  the  next  sermon.  It  is  truth  for  truth 's 
sake,  and  for  that  largeness  and  ripeness  and  fullness  of 
character  which  alone  can  make  him  a  strong  preacher. 
Which  is  the  better  method?  The  latter,  beyond  all 
doubt.  In  the  first  place,  the  man  of  special  preparation 
is  always  crude  ;  he  is  always  tempted  to  take  up  some 
half  considered  thought  that  strikes  him  in  the  hurry  of 
his  reading,  and  adopt  it  suddenly,  and  set  it  before  his 
people,  as  if  it  were  his  true  conviction.  Many  a  minis- 
ter's old  sermons  are  scattered  all  over  with  ideas  which 
he  never  held,  but  which  held  him  for  a  week. ' ' 

This  quotation  bears,  also,  upon  our  next  topic. 

Originality.  It  is  proper  to  follow  a  discussion  of  the 
sources  of  material  with  some  consideration  of  original- 
ity. The  speaker  upon  the  platform  is  understood  to  be 
giving  an  original  speech,  unless  a  statement  is  made  to 
the  contrary.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  original 
as  here  used?  No  very  definite  answer  can  be  given^; 
but  one  can  arrive  at  a  working  conception,  ^p^aker 
speaks  of  Itthe  reaction  of  an  individual  mind  on  the 

1  Lectures  on  Preaching,  p.  157. 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  381 


materiaL^' ^  That  may  serve  as  a  definition  of  orig- 
inality.   Essenwein  puts  the  matter  thus :  ^ 

^^How  does  my  mind  work  when  it  receives  a  new 
truth  ? 

*'Does  it  enjoy  the  truth,  and  then  give  it  out  again 
unaltered,  exactly  or  substantially  in  the  same  words? 
That  is  quotation,  if  credit  is  given  to  the  author ;  other- 
wise it  is  literary  theft. 

^^Does  my  mind  feel  stimulated,  upon  receiving  truth, 
to  produce  other  thoughts,  and  yet  utter  the  received 
thought  without  change?    That  is  expansion. 

^'Does  my  mind  not  only  receive  a  stimulus  from  new 
truth,  but  also  assimilate  it,  transform,  clarify,  and 
amplify  it,  so  that  in  uttering  that  truth  I  utter  it 
stamped  with  my  own  image  and  superscription?  That 
is  originality. 

.  .  An  original  thought  is  a  new  birth, — the  fruit 
of  a  union  of  truth  from  without  and  of  thought  from 
within. ' '  — 

Originality  may  consist  in  finding  a  new  phase  of  a 
subject,  in  working  out  a  new  analysis,  or  a  new  view- 
point; or  in  applying  an  old  truth  to  a  new  situation. 
Each  age  must  adapt  old  knowledge,  the  product  of 
earlier  ages'  experience,  to  its  new,  or  seemingly  new, 
circumstances,  and  restate  it  in  terms  of  the  new  day. 
''A  thought  is  his  who  puts  new  youth  in  it,"  says 
Lowell.  Certainly  we  do  not  demand  an  absolutely  new 
thought ;  for,  as  has  been  said,  one  absolutely  new  thought 
to  a  century  is  a  high  average.  It  is  enough  that  an  in- 
dividual has  really  reacted  to  the  old  ideas.  That  is  a 
high  degree  of  originality  when  one  has  come  to  a  clear 
realization  of  a  truth  as  the  result  of  experience,  even 
though  the  truth  was  in  his  first  copybook.    *  ^  The  burnt 


1  Forms  of  Public  Discourse,  p.  xix.  / 

2  How  to  Attract  and  Hold  an  Audiencey  p.  51. 


S82 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


child"  has  an  original  idea  when  he  first  lean  c- 
perienee  that  fire  does  burn.  I  recall  a  stuc  lo 
came  in  with  a  great  desire  to  write  on  Compel  a 
thought  which  had  come  to  him  from  a  certain  ex- 
perience and  which  he  supposed  really  new.  It  was 
honestly  original,  though  as  old  as  the  first  thinker. 

We  admit  a  degree  of  originality,  also,  in  one  who 
gives  an  old  idea  freshness  of  treatment  and  puts  it  in 
a  superior  way. 

1  "For  we  call  a  thing  his  in  the  long  run, 
Who  utters  it  clearest  and  best.'* 

Negatively,  we  may  say  that  one  who  sits  down  to 
make  an  abstract  of  an  article  or  a  chapter,  taking  out 
topic  sentences  and  changing  a  few  words,  is  not  doing 
original  work.  Nor  is  he  though  he  does  not  use  a  single 
sentence  from  his  author,  so  long  as  .  he  adopts  the 
author's  ideas  and  standpoint.  To  parat)hrase  may  be  a 
very  good  exercise  in  speech  training,  but  it  is  not  meet- 
ing a  requirement  for  an  original  speech.  The  case  is 
somewhat  more  hopeful  when  one  reads  two  authorities, 
compares  them  and  writes  a  speech  based  upon  both. 
But  we  cannot  establish  any  rule  for  originality  based  on 
the  number  of  works  read.  It  is  the  thinking,  assimilat- 
ing and  reacting  that  count.  We  may  safely  say  that  if 
one  will  follow  out  the  directions  in  Chapter  IV,  in  re- 
gard to  the  stages  of  preparation,  he  will  be  fairly 
original. 

It  would  be  hard  to  give  a  better  description  of  original  work, 
when  one  must  base  his  speech  upon  the  material  of  others,  than  this 
quoted  from  a  student  by  Professor  Baker :  2 

"In  working  up  both  my  forensics  this  year,  T  read  a  great  deal. 
My  mind  kept  in  a  perfect  boil  all  the  time,  and  after  each  book 
or  article  I  seemed  to  have  a  different  confo»**"iation  of  ideas.  Ideas 

1  Franciscus  de  Verulamio  sic  cog  -  ^oweirs  Works.  Vol. 
IV,  p.  197. 

2  Principles  of  Argumentation^  p.  3. 


FINDING  MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY  SSS 


of  my  own  that  I  had  started  out  with  were  totally  or  almost  en- 
tirely changed  in  the  end.  Nor  had  I  apparently  changed  them  for 
those  of  any  one  else.  They  were  not  on  the  other  hand  original  [  ?]. 
I  am  sure  some  one  had  thought  of  every  one  before.  In  fact,  they 
had  flashed  through  my  ou  n  mind  in  a  vague  way  at  different  times 
in  my  life.  ...  I  had  taken  the  ideas  of  other  men  and  molded 
mine  by  them.  My  application  was  often  very  different  from  the 
application  of  the  authors  themselves,  yet  I  had  used  them  and 
owed  them  something." 

There  is  a  moral  aspect  to  this  question  of  originality, 
which  seems  to  demand  attention.  One  sometimes  finds 
astonishing  views  prevailing.  A  student  took  an  oration, 
transposed  some  sentences,  struck  out  here  and  there  a 
clause,  presented  it  as  an  original  speech  and  defended 
his  action.  I  recall  hearing  a  man  of  some  distinction, 
in  an  address  to  arouse  martial  spirit  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Spanish- American  "War,  declaim  eloquently,  without 
acknowledgment,  large  sections  from  a  speech  by  Wen- 
dell Phillips.  A  friend  of  mine  holds  in  his  hands  proof 
that  a  certain  college  president  preached  a  baccalaureate 
sermon  taken  largely  from  the  printed  sermons  of  an- 
other college  president.  Does  not  the  moral  sense  of 
mankind  condemn  such  practices  ?  The  natural  anxiety 
of  the  friends  of  the  college  president  mentioned  that  the 
proofs  of  his  plagiarism  shall  not  be  made  public,  indi- 
cates that  there  is  a  moral  obligation  upon  a  speaker  te 
be  original  in  some  fair  sense  of  the  word. 

On  the  low  ground  of  expediency,  plagiarism  is  inad- 
visable. There  were  at  least  two  persons  who  heard  the 
speaker  declaiming  from  Wendell  Phillips  who  were  able 
to  *^give  him  away."  A  visiting  preacher  in  an  Ithaca 
pulpit  assumed  that  no  one  read  printed  sermons;  but 
one  little  woman  did,  and  she  forced  him  to  a  humili- 
ating confession. 

I  find  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  standard  of  orig- 
inality is  lower  for  speakers  than  for  writers.  We  must, 
of  course,  consider  in  a  given  case  what  is  understood  by 


S84 


PUBLIC  SI      K  JG 


the  audience :  there  may  be  when  a  speaker  is 

understood  to  be  but  a  moutl  .  v  He  has  been  sent 
to  represent  another  person  o  c—  istitution.  Again, 
speakers  under  certain  circums;  vill  be  understood 

to  have  used  certain  authorities. 

A  speaker  should  be  quick  to  acknowledge  his  indebted- 
ness, when  acknowledgment  is  due.  He  will  not  lose 
by  so  doing,  but  gain  in  the  respect  of  his  audience. 
When  acknowledgment  is  due  cannot  be  laid  down  defi- 
nitely; but  the  honest  man  will  make  sure  he  goes  far 
enough  in  this  direction.  One  is  not  bound  to  give* 
credit  for  ideas  taken  from  the  great  common  stock,  even 
though  he  knows  that  a  certain  writer  has  expressed 
them,  unless  he  is  borrowing  that  writer's  form.  For 
example,  I  was  told  the  other  day  that  the  suggestion 
made  in  Chapter  VII,  in  regard  to  tact  in  giving  informa- 
tion the  audience  should  possess,  had  been  made  by  Poor 
Richard.  Possibly  I  got  it  from  him ;  but  I  feel  no  obli- 
gation to  give  credit  for  such  a  commonplace,  though  I 
might  wish  to  cite  so  strong  an  authority  as  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

There  is  no  use  in  trying  to  lay  down  rules  about  origi- 
nality. The  unscrupulous  man  will  cheat  any  rules  on 
such  a  subject.  The  honest  man  will  keep  himself  from 
fraud  when  he  realizes  what  honesty  demands;  and  he 
can  best  do  it  by  thorough  mastery  of  facts  and  genuine 
thinking.  I  trust  that  no  student  who  has  studied  this 
text  will  ask,  as  did  one  who  was  criticized  for  merely 
boiling  down  an  editorial,  '^What  more  can  one  do?" 


CHAPTER  XII 


EXTEMPORANEOUS  OR  WRITTEN — PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 

Shall  the  speech  be  written  or  extemporaneous  ?  This 
is  a  question  which  causes  much  argument,  in  which  it  ^ 
seems  to  be  assumed  that  one  way  must  be  right  on  all 
occasions  and  for  all  persons,  and  to  be  forgotten  that  the 
question  is,  not  written  or  extemporized,  but  good  or 
bad,  and  good  or  bad  under  the  circumstances. 

The  question  is  not  one  to  be  answered  categorically. 
Much  depends  upon  the  speaker,  the  nature  of  the  speech, 
and  the  occasion.  Each  method  of  speaking  has  its 
merits  and  defects,  its  uses  and  abuses.  As  regards  the 
conversational  elements  of  delivery,  these  methods  were, 
considered  in  Chapter  II.  I  hold  that  the  well  equipped 
speaker  should  be  able  to  speak  by  every  method,  and 
should  practice  all,  especially  as  a  learner. 

The  extemporaneous  speech.  By  the  term  extempo- 
raneous we  have  come  to  describe,  not  a  speech  without 
preparation  (that  we  call  impromptu) ,  but  a  speech  which 
is  not  written  out  in  full.  This  is  the  most  popular 
method,  and  sometimes  it  is  the  only  method  feasible. 
Its  peculiar  merit  is  its  greater  adaptability  to  a  situation. 
There  are  times  when,  though  the  speaker  can  arm  him- 
self with  facts  and  lines  of  argument  for  all  probable 
emergencies,  he  cannot  tell  in  advance  v/hat  will  be 
needed.  There  is,  indeed,  on  almost  any  occasion,  an 
advantage  in  being  able  to  adapt  one's  discourse  to  the 
varying  condition  of  one's  auditors.    The  extempora- 

385 


386 


PUBLIC  SPE 


neous  speaker  can,  also,  profit  l  .  .  om  the  inspiration 
of  occasion  and  audience  than  can  one  who  has  written 
his  speech. 

Beecher,  who  believed  the  extemporaneous  method  best 
for  most  occasions,  warned  young  speakers  against  '^the 
temptation  to  slovenliness  in  workmanship,  to  careless 
and  inaccurate  statement,  to  repetition,  to  violation  of 
good  taste. ' '  ^  The  tendency  to  slovenliness  is  very 
marked.  The  extempofizer  is  likely  to  seize  the  first 
word  that  comes  to  mind,  whether  it  is  just  the  right  word 
to  express  his  meaning  or  not.  He  tends  to  use  one  word 
instead  of  its  synonyms,  which  would  more  exactly  ex- 
press shades  of  meaning.  Then,  feeling  that  he  has  nol 
exactly  expressed  his  idea,  he  goes  on  repeating  in  many 
words  and  becomes  verbose.  Often  he  sits  down  with  the 
consciousness  that  he  has  not  said  what  he  meant.  Again, 
he  may  quite  forget  to  say  what  he  wishes  most  to  say 
Afterward  he  has  the  humiliation  of  remembering  this,  or 
of  learning  from  others  that  he  has  been  misunderstood 
because  of  careless  statements  or  omissions. 

Most  troublesome  to  the  extemporizer,  perhaps,  are 
the  rash,  unconsidered,  or  silly  ideas  that  pop  into  the 
mind  and  out  of  the  mouth.  These  may  come  to  us  iri: 
our  thinking  at  any  time,  but  when  we  compose  deliber- 
ately we  weed  them  out.  They  may  be  no  worse  than 
inane  or  a  clog  to  the  thought,  or  they  may  be  damaging. 
Wise  and  friendly  reporters  may  leave  them  out ;  but  the 
mischief  may  be  done.  Opponents  may  snap  them  up 
and  publish  them  far  and  wide, — whether  far  and  wide 
refers  to  a  village,  a  state,  a  nation,  or  the  world.  These 
statements  may  be  inspired  by  the  occasion  (for  inspira- 
tion is  of  divers  kinds),  by  the  conduct  of  opponents 
or  the  enthusiasm  of  friends.    Strong  statements  made 

1  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching,  1st  Series,  p.  216. 


WRITTEN  OR  EXTEMPO'RANEOUS  387 


at  night  when  one  is  surrounded  by  sympathetic  friends, 
perhaps  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter" 
against  the  opposition,  and  showering  compliments  upon 
the  speaker,  sound  very  different  when  read  from  the 
morning  paper. 

Presidents  do  not  deliver  extemporaneously  their  in- 
augural addresses.  The  public  is  watching  too  critically 
for  the  smallest  hints  of  policy.  President  Wilson  has 
probably  dared  more  than  any  other  president  in  the  way 
of  extemporaneous  address;  but  he  is  said  to  regret  his 
inability  to  memorize  a  speech.  Men  who  occupy  promi- 
nent positions  protect  themselves  when  making  impor- 
tant speeches,  by  writing  out  their  remarks  and  giving 
copies  to  the  press,  and  then  reading  from  the  manu- 
script, or  speaking  from  memory.  Not  many  of  us  will 
be  inaugurated  as  presidents,  or  even  as  governors;  but 
we  shall  hav6  occasions  when  we  wish  to  weigh  our  words, 
and  take  no  chance  either  of  ill-considered  statements  or 
of  confusion  or  omissions.  Or  we  may  have  to  speak  on 
subjects  too  intricate  to  carry  in  memory.  There  are 
times,  then,  when  it  is  advisable  to  write  one's  speech, 
even  if  one  is  able  to  extemporize  well. 

The  written  speech.  The  written  speech  permits  a 
care  in  regard  to  phraseology  and  a  certainty  of  saying 
precisely  what  one  wishes  to' say,  that  are  impossible  to 
one  extemporizing.  These  advantages  are  so  important 
that  speeches  are  written  more  often  than  is  believed  by 
the  inexperienced.  On  important  occasions  speakers  will 
always  be  likely  to  use  the  writing  method,  when  it  is 
possible.  The  objections  to  it  can  be  overcome  in  part 
by  careful  preliminary  study  o?  the  probable  audience 
and  situation;  by  writing  always  with  these  in  mind, 
perhaps  talking  to  this  audience  in  imagination  before 
writing,  and  by  training  one 's  self  on  the  lines  indicated 


388 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


in  Chapter  II.  In  addition  it  may  be  said  that  whatever 
one  memorizes,  he  should  memorize  thoroughly.  With 
a  speech  poorly  memorized,  one  has  neither  the  freedom 
of  the  extemporizer  nor  the  sureness  of  the  reader.  His 
mind  is  taken  up  with  the  anxious  strain  of  remembering. 
But  with  perfect  memorization,  he  can,  if  he  will  hold 
himself  to  his  work,  realize  fully  the  import  of  his  words 
and  come  into  close  touch  with  his  audience. 

When  one  wishes  to  deliver  a  written  speech,  and  lacks 
time  or  ability  for  memorizing,  or  dares  not  trust  to 
memory,  he  must  read  his  speech.  Many  college  lec- 
turers, who  deliver  several  long  lectures  in  a  week,  find 
this  the  only  practicable  method.  The  objection  to  this 
method  can  be  overcome  to  a  great  extent  by  preparing 
as  suggested  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  by  gaining  great 
familiarity  with  the  manuscript,  and  by  making  a  deter- 
mined attempt  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  audience.  The 
reader  is  likely  to  proceed  much  too  fast,  and  to  do  very 
little  thinking.  He  should  speak  very  slowly,  and  espe- 
cially should  pause  deliberately  while  getting  each  new 
statement  in  mind,  and  then  deliver  it  as  directly  as 
possible  to  his  hearers. 

Very  often  speakers  combine  the  methods  of  commit- 
ting to  memory  and  of  extemporizing.  Certain  passages 
which  are  particularly  difficult  or  important,  as  a  candi- 
date's  statements  of  policy,  or  his  pledges,  are  fixed  in 
memory;  and  also  passages  in  which  particularly  good 
expression  is  desired.  The  method  decreases  somewhat 
one's  freedom,  for  he  must  lead  up  to  these  passages, 
and  sometimes  a  poor  effect  is  produced  by  the  contrast 
between  them  and  the  extemporaneous  parts.  There 
may  be  lack  of  harmony  in  tone  or  in  style. 

''But,"  as  Brander  Matthews  says/  ''there  is  no  deny- 

J  Notes  on  (Speevh-Makingy  p.  32, 


WRITTEN  OR  EXTEMPORANEOUS  389 


ing  the  popularity  of  this  third  method  with  the  speakers 
of  the  first  rank,  at  whose  hands  its  possibilities  have 
been  adroitly  improved.  John  Bright  used  to  write  out 
certain  parts  of  his  more  important  speeches.  So  did 
Mr.  Gladstone.  Daniel  Webster,  a  far  greater  orator 
than  either  of  them,  had  stored  his  capacious  memory 
with  arguments  that  might  lie  there  for  years  ready  for 
his  use.  The  Reply  to  Hayne  was  not  written  out  before 
delivery,  either  as  a  whole  or  in  part,  but  it  certainly 
contained  more  than  one  mighty  passage  the  wording  of 
which  had  been  elaborately  prepared  against  the  long- 
waited  occasion." 

The  political  speaker,  the  agitator,  or  any  one  who  car- 
ries on  a  long  campaign  of  speaking,  is  likely  to  use  this 
mixed  method;  as  one  w^ho  travels  with  them  finds  to 
his  weariness.  They  usually  say  something  new  in  each 
speech,  both  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  particular  audi- 
ence, and  to  furnish  the  papers  something  new  to  report ; 
but  the  bulk  of  their  speech  will  be  repeated  time  after 
time.  Or,  they  may  have  an  adjustable  speech,  a  sort 
of  handy  set  of  parts,  that  can  be  fitted  together  in  vari- 
ous ways,  not  all  the  pieces  being  used  each  time.  Of 
course,  such  speakers  often  do  extemporize  in  a  measure, 
having  talked  through  their  subjects  so  many  times  and 
ways  that  they  are  sure  of  finding  a  familiar  trail  wher- 
ever they  go.  And  they  often  ramble  and  mix  things  up 
sadly  when  they  thus  trust  to  luck. 

When  one  proposes  to  use  this  method  of  linking  mem- 
orized passages  together  with  extemporized  parts,  he 
should  try  to  key  his  prepared  passages  to  his  probable 
occasion.  Then  he  should  memorize  them  thoroughly,  in 
order  that  he  may  relieve  himself  from  anxiety  about  his 
ability  to  take  them  up  when  he  pleases. 

How  reduce  the  jdefwts^  the  extemporaneous  speech. 


390 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Since  the  extemporaneous  speech  has  ^reat  advantages 
on  many  occasions,  we  should  consider  with  care  how  its 
defects  can  be  minimized.  As  one  of  the  chief  defects  is 
lack  of  discrimination  in  the  use  of  words,  the  extempo- 
raneous speaker  should  take  much  care  in  this  regard. 
He  should  not  seize  upon  the  first  word  that  comes,  but 
should  dare  to  wait  for  the  right  one.  There  are  few 
more  effective  speakers  than  Elihu  Koot.  His  words  do 
not  come  easily,  though  he  has  an  abundant  vocabulary ; 
but  when  they  come  they  are  right,  and  are  far  more  im- 
pressive than  glibness. 

Again,  the  extemporaneous  speaker  should  write  much. 
This  is  urged  by  those  who  believe  most  strongly  in  the 
extemporaneous  speech.  Beecher  told  the  Yale  divinity 
students  that  they  should  write  about  one-third  of  their 
sermons.  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  ^  emphasizes  the  ' '  constant 
use  of  the  pen.  No  man  ought  to  trust  only  to  the  voice 
as  a  means  of  expression.  If  he  does  not  write  sermons, 
he  ought  to  write  something  else,  and  write  with  care, 
with  dictionary  of  synonyms  before  him,  with  careful 
weighing  and  study  of  words  and  sentences,  with  careful 
rewriting,  elision  of  all  repetitions,  rewriting  of  sentences 
in  an  endeavor  to  improve  their  form,  their  clearness, 
their  compactness,  their  rhythm  and  cadence. ' ' 

For  many  years  I  conducted  a  class  in  extemporaneous  speaking. 
The  students  gained  fluency  and  self-possession,  but  it  was  a  con- 
stant effort  to  keep  them  from  degenerating  in  language,  from  grow- 
ing slip-shod  in  choice  of  words,  in  orderliness  and  compactness. 
At  the  same  time  I  had  a  course  in  which  all  speeches  were  written 
and  re-w^ritten.  The  students  in  this  class  gained  in  knowledge  of 
principles,  in  arrangement,  and  in  the  use  of  words ;  but  they  lacked 
interest,  spontaneity  and  touch  with  audiences.  Then  I  combined 
the  tvv^o  courses  and  made  a  course  much  better  than  either.  Each 
kind  of  work  tends  to  correct  the  faults  of  the  other. 

1  From  a  valuable  "Open  Letter,"  reprinted  from  the  Outlook, 
in  the  Appendix  of  Matthews'  Notes  on  Public  Speaking. 


WRITTEN  OR  EXTEMPORANEOUS  391 


The  student  of  speaking  should  take  very  seriously 
this  advice  to  Vvrite  much.  While  I  believe  that  he  is 
profited  by  delivering  extemporaneous  speeches  from  the 
very  beginning  of  his  work,  I  iBnd  that  he  develops  most 
harmoniously  when  he  makes  speeches  in  many  ways. 
He  should  not  be  mislead  by  what  some  experienced 
speaker  does  or  seems  to  do ;  but  should  remember  that  he 
is  a  learner.  Dr.  Abbott  says,  in  the  same  ^^Open  Let- 
ter" from  which  I  have  just  quoted,  that  the  best  extem- 
poraneous speaker  requires  years  of  practice.  Do  not 
expect  to  attain  by  any  school  method  in  a  month  or  year 
that  which  your  elders  have  attained  only  by  long  exer- 
cise in  the  study  and  on  the  platform." 

4 

I  know  of  no  more  ardent  advocate  of  extemporaneous  speaking 
than  Dr.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  an  eminent  preacher  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, who  published  a  book  entitled,  Preaching  Without  Notes,  in 
which  he  tells  of  the  experience  which  led  him  to  his  belief.  Dur- 
ing twenty-five  years  he  tried  every  method  of  preaching.  At  first 
ne  wrote  all  his  sermons.  Then  he  spoke  from  very  full  notes. 
Then  he  read  one  sermon  and  preached  one  without  notes  on  the 
same  Sunday.  Finally  he  abandoned  all  aids  in  the  pulpit.  He 
says  (p.  37)  :  "I  wrote  for  many  years,  fully  and  carefully.  I 
now  write  only  a  brief  outline  of  the  discourse,  covering  usually 
one  or  two  sheets  of  common  note-paper,  and  have  no  notes  before 
me  in  the  pulpit — not  a  line,  or  a  catch-word."  He  became  sure 
that  his  last  way  was  best. 

But  Dr.  Storrs  does  not  observe  at  all  how  important  were  those 
twenty-five  years  of  training  in  which  he  wrote  fully  and  carefully, 
and  how  gradually  he  approached  the  stage  in  which  he  was  an 
accomplished  extemporizer.  He  tells  us  that  for  thirteen  of  those 
years  he  wrote  also  as  editor  of  a  religious  journal.  He  also 
served  exacting  congregations.  In  all  this  he  was  training  himself 
in  logical  thinking  and  in  orderly,  clear-cut  expression.  He  tells 
us,  too,  that  his  first  notable  success  without  writing  was  a  sermon 
upon  a  subject  upon  which  he  had  recently  written.  His  experi- 
ence is  most  suggestive ;  more  suggestive,  indeed,  than  he  realized. 

Besides  writing,  another  method  frequently  used  for 
checking  up  one's  self,  is  to  have  a  stenographer  take 


392  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

down  one's  speech  verbatim  and  present  it  without  any 
of  the  kindly  corrections  which  stenograpliers  commonly 
make.  Such  a  report  will  show  one  his  tendencies, 
whether  he  is  overusing  certain  expressions,  or  is  grow- 
ing verbose  and  slovenly. 

But  the  most  important  suggestion  for  eliminating  the 
faults  common  in  extemporaneous  address  is  thorough 
preparation.  You  will  not  find  among  the  men  who 
advocate  and  have  used  best  this  form  of  address,  those 
who  hold  that  it  is  a  method  of  escaping  labor,  except  the 
mere  labor  of  writing.  Dr.  Storrs  followed  his  advocacy 
of  extemporaneous  method  with  this : 

Never  begin  to  preach  without  notes  with  any  idea  of 
saving  yourselves  work  by  it.  If  you  do  you  will  fail; 
and  you  will  richly  deserve  to  fail.  Any  suspicion  of 
this  among  your  people  will  destroy  your  hold  on  them. 
Your  own  minds  will  deteriorate ;  and  your  sermons  will 
lose,  not  finish  only,  but  body  and  vigor. ' ' 

After  stating  the  essentials  of  a  good  extemporaneous 
speech,  Dr.  Abbott  says : 

*  ^  The  preparation  of  such  an  address  will  take  quite  as 
much  time  as  the  preparation  of  a  manuscript.  It  must 
be  more  thoroughly  prepared;  the  subject  must  be  more 
thoroughly  thought  out ;  the  mind  must  be  familiar  with 
it  in  all  its  aspects. ' ' 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  is  true.  The  man  who  writes 
may  be  able  to  conceal  his  ignorance,  and  throw  false 
bridges  over  the  gaps  in  his  facts  and  reasonings ;  but  one 
who  attempts  to  follow  a  line  of  thought  extemporane- 
ously, or  adapt  his  statements  to  the  circumstances  and 
exigencies  of  an  occasion,  must  have  a  clear  line  of 
thought  and  a  mastery  of  all  facts  that  may  be  needed. 

Importance  of  a  plan.    A  plan  is  needed  in  order  that 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


393 


the  speaker  may  know  what  he  is  about  and  may  make 
sure  that  he  is  doing  what  he  wishes  to  do.  To  make  a 
plan  is  to  bring  into  order  his  knowledge  of  his  situation, 
to  determine  with  precision  what  he  will  attempt,  to  take 
stock  of  his  means  and  to  prepare  for  their  most  efficient 
use.  For  the  speaker  who  proposes  to  speak  extempo- 
raneously, a  careful  plan  is  necessary  to  prevent  the 
rambling,  verboseness,  and  the  failure  to  say  what  is  in- 
tended, that  we  have  just  commented  on.  One  who  is  to 
write  a  speech  needs  the  plan  hardly  less,  for  he  too  will 
ramble  if,  instead  of  following  a  clearly  marked  out 
path,  he  merely  writes  as  one  thing  suggests  another. 

But  the  speaker  must  consider  much  more  than  what  he 
wishes  to  say.  He  must  consider  his  audience,  and  how 
he  can  adapt  what  he  wishes  to  say  to  them,  in  order  that 
he  may  inform,  or  convince,  or  persuade  them.  Every 
problem  that  we  have  considered  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, in  regard  to  the  adaptation  of  speeches  to  hearers,  is 
a  reason  for  planning.  You  will  recall  what  Beecher 
said  of  his  ineffective  preaching  before  he  began  delib- 
erately to  aim  his  sermons  at  his  congregation.  And  Dr. 
Abbott,  Beecher 's  successor  in  Plymouth  Church,  has 
this  to  say  of  the  steps  of  special  preparation :  ^ 

^^1.  What  is  the  object  of  this  speech?  What  end  is  it 
to  serve?  What  verdict  is  it  to  win?  What  result  is 
it  to  accomplish?  2.  Central  thought.  What  thought 
lodged  in  the  mind  of  an  auditor  will  best  accomplish  the 
desired  result?  3.  Analysis  of  this  central  thought  into 
three  or  four  propositions,  the  enforcement  and  illustra- 
tion of  which  will  serve  to  fasten  in  the  minds  of  the  hear- 
ers, the  central  thought,  and  so  to  secure  the  desired  re- 
sult. 4.  Some  illustrations  or  concrete  statements  of 
each  one  of  these  separate  propositions. ' ' 

1  From  the  *'Op^n  Letter"  reprinted  in  Matthews'  Notes  on 
Speech-Making,  p.  90. 


394 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  man  who  objects  to  making  a  plan  iCi'  a  speech 
would  object  to  making  a  plan  for  a  house.  It  is  true 
that  one  might  build  a  very  delightful  house  without  a 
plan;  but  the  chances  are  that  he  would  waste  much 
money  in  buying  his  material,  and  in  making  the  changes 
necessitated  by  the  fact  that  the  chimney  cut  off  the  stair- 
way and  that  the  bath  room  could  be  reached  only  through 
the  kitchen.  And  when  he  was  done  he  would  be  likely 
to  find  that  his  work  of  genius  had  neither  form  nor 
utility.  It  ma^^  be  very  delightful  to  start  from  one's 
hotel  in  a  strange  city  and  walk  to  the  station,  with  only 
the  general  notion  that  it  is  * '  over  that  way. ' '  One  may 
have  a  fine  time  watching  the  crowd  and  looking  in  at  the 
shop  windows,  he  may  meet  an  old  friend;  but  at  train 
time  he  may  be  far  from  the  station. 

It  may  be  delightful  to  hear  an  old  man  whose  life  has 
been  rich  in  experiences,  ramble  about  as  his  memory 
leads.  He  is  sure  to  enjoy  it ;  but  unless  he  is  an  unusual 
old  man,  his  hearers  will  be  bored.  The  analogies  are 
not  complete ;  for  in  speech-making  we  must  take  account 
of  our  hearers.  They  do  not  care  to  hear  many  of  us 
ramble ;  they  wish  us  to  accomplish  something  in  a  short 
time  and  have  done  with  it;  and  we  must  consider  how 
we  can  best  carry  out  our  purpose  in  the  time  allowed. 
This  should  be  too  clear  for  argument  for  any  one  who 
realizes  that  public  speaking  should  be,  not  merely  talk- 
ing, but  talking  effectively ;  and,  further,  that  most  pub- 
lic speaking  is  ineffective. 

Making  the  plan.  The  suggestions  which  will  help 
one  in  making  a  speech  can  be  drawn  from  the  preceding 
chapters,  especially  from  Chapters  IV,  VI,  VIII,  and  IX. 
The  more  important  of  these  suggestions  can  be  arranged 
in  a  chart.  To  enumerate  them  all  here  would  require 
a  review  of  the  whole  subject.    II  would  be  good  practice 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


S95 


to  write  out  the  answers  to  these  questions  with  reference 
to  several  speeches,  until  one  forms  a  habit  of  proceeding 
systematically.    (See  p.  396  for  chart.) 

It  is  quite  true,  as  some  one  may  be  reminding  me,  that  I  have 
raised  in  this  text  many  questions  that  a  speaker  should  answer. 
Recently  a  friend  who  was  studying  medicine  showed  me  the  list 
of  questions  he  had  to  answer  with  regard  to  his  patients  in  the 
hospital.  "But  how  can  you  ever  get  through  with  that  inter- 
minable list?"  I  demanded.  *'0h,''  he  replied,  "with  practice  one 
gets  to  do  it  very  rapidly."  So  with  practice  the  speaker  becomes 
able  to  diagnose  his  audience  and  occasion  rapidly.  And  as  not  all 
the  questions  on  my  friend's  list  w^ere  applicable  to  each  case,  so 
not  all  of  those  raised  here  are  applicable  to  each  speech.  But 
as  the  progressive  modern  physician's  diagnosis  is  extraordinarily 
searching,  so  that  of  a  speaker  who  wishes  to  improve  should  be. 
There  are  too  many  speakers  like  a  too  common  type  of  general 
practitioner,  who  asks  a  question  or  two  and  passes  out  the  stock 
preacription. 

The  outline.  All  the  work  of  preparation,  as  indicated 
in  various  chapters,  and  especially  in  the  discussion  of  the 
three  stages  of  preparation  in  Chapter  IV,  in  the  discus- 
sion of  reading  in  Chapter  XI,  and  in  this  Speaker's 
Chart,  should  be  crystallized  in  an  outline,  or  sketch  of 
the  speech  in  brief  form,  before  the  speaker  writes  it  in 
full,  or  delivers  it  extemporaneously.  It  is  the  outline 
which,  above  all  other  devices,  enables  one  to  deliver  a 
speech  which  has  due  proportion,  emphasis,  unity  and 
coherence,  to  proceed  in  an  orderly  way  to  the  goal,  to 
make  sure  of  saying  what  one  wishes  to  say,  of  support- 
ing one's  claims,  and  of  finishing  on  time.  The  outline 
is  the  best  means  of  testing  one's  preparation.  It  should 
reveal  what  the  speaker  proposes  to  do,  and  how  each 
part  is  related  to  the  central  aim.  It  reveals  flaws  in 
arguments  and  defects  in  information,  and  indicates  the 
progress  of  the  thought  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  in 
the  outline  that  the  experimenting  and  rearranging 
should  be  done. 


396 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Speaker's  Chart 

1.  What  is  my  purpose?  (E.g.  I  wish  to  persuade  my 
hearers  to  vote,  etc.) 

2.  What  is  the  principal  means  to  use  in  accomplishing 
this  purpose?  (E.g.  an  argument  that  we  should  have  a 
''tariff  for  revenue  only.") 

3.  By  what  facts  and  ideas  shall  I  support  this  means  ? 

4.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  my  probable  audi- 
ence? 

5.  Is  my  audience  interested  in  this  subject?  From 
what  existing  interest  of  theirs  can  I  derive  an  interest  in 
the  subject?  Or,  how  can  we  get  on  a  common  ground 
of  interest? 

6.  What  is  the  state  of  their  information  on  this  sub- 
ject?   What  must  I  explain? 

7.  Are  my  ideas  novel  or  familiar  to  my  hearers  ?  If 
novel,  how  can  I  interpret  them  in  terms  of  their  experi- 
ence? With  what  can  I  compare  them?  If  familiar, 
how  can  I  give  them  freshness  of  treatment? 

8.  How  can  I  give  concreteness  to  my  ideas?  How 
can  I  utilize  the  imagination  of  my  audience?  What 
illustrations  will  be  effective? 

9.  By  what  varied  means  of  presentation  can  I  keep  my 
chief  idea  before  their  minds  until  they  are  impressed? 

10.  Will  a  chart  or  a  map  be  of  service? 

11.  Do  my  hearers  believe  the  conduct  I  urge  is  good ; 
or  must  they  be  convinced  ?  Do  they  believe  the  means 
I  urge  is  good? 

12.  Why  have  they  not  followed  the  course  urged? 
Inertia?    Habit?    Other  motives  stronger  than  those 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  897 


that  have  been  urged?  What  motives  are  stronger  yet 
with  them  ? 

13.  Will  they  bear  a  straight  out  exhortation  ?  May  I 
appeal  directly  to  emotion ;  or  must  I  stir  it  through  the 
imagination  ? 

14.  Will  it  be  wise  to  reiterate  accepted  arguments 
and  known  facts  ? 

15.  Can  I  utilize  the  force  of  suggestion,  direct  or  in- 
direct ? 

16.  Can  I  bring  them  into  unity  of  feeling  ? 

17.  Can  I  use  their  instinct  for  imitation? 

18.  If  conviction  is  lacking,  is  this  audience  willing  to 
be  convinced  ? 

19.  How  can  I  make  them  willing  to  believe  ? 

20.  What  fixed  beliefs  or  prejudices  stand  in  my  way  ? 

21.  Can  I  identify  my  belief  with  their  fixed  beliefs? 

22.  Can  I  identify  this  conduct  with  their  customary 
modes  of  action? 

23.  Can  I  meet  them  on  some  common  ground  of  belief  ? 

24.  Can  I  by  explanations,  eliminations  of  irrelevant 
matter,  or  concessions,  remove  any  of  their  objections? 

25.  Must  I  proceed  in  this  case  step  by  step,  or  can  I 
take  advanced  ground  at  once? 

26.  Has  my  audience  much  general  information? 

27.  Is  my  audience  slow  of  thought? 

28.  Is  my  audience  conservative,  or  radical  ? 

29.  Can  I  use  precedent  effectively?  Authorities? 

30.  Can  I  do  anything  to  give  this  audience  confidence 
in  me  ?    Or  to  get  on  good  terms  with  them  ? 


598 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Objections  to  outlines  considered.  Certain  objections 
are  so  commonly  made  by  students  to  the  preparation  of 
outlines,  that  it  is  useless  to  ignore  them.  ' '  It  hampers 
me  and  destroys  ease/'  says  one.  Let  us  admit  that  an 
outline  may  decrease  freedom.  In  the  first  place,  let  us 
remember  we  are  learners ;  and  learning  new  methods,  no 
matter  how  much  better  than  the  old,  usually  does  for  the 
time  decrease  ease.  The  objection  is  simply  the  old  ob- 
jection to  all  kinds  of  training.  Secondly,  there  are  some 
things  better  than  ease  and  freedom.  Orderly  progress 
of  thought  is  better,  clearness  is  better,  unity  is  better; 
and  it  is  much  better  to  sit  down  knowing  that  you  have 
said  what  you  meant  to  say,  not  some  ill-considered  thing. 
We  have  far  too  many  speeches  which  remind  one  of  the 
saying,  '^We  don't  know  where  we  are  going,  but  we  are 
on  our  way. ' ' 

Thirdly,  do  not  let  the  outline  hamper  you  unduly. 
We  sometimes  read  of  the  speaker,  who,  after  an  agony 
of  laborious  preparation,  goes  upon  the  platform,  throws 
away  his  outline  or  his  speech,  and  has  a  great  impromptu 
success.  Such  a  man  is  just  the  one  to  make  an  im- 
promptu success  because  of  that  very  preparation  which 
he  thinks,  quite  mistakenly,  he  has  abandoned.  It  has 
given  him  facts,  cleared  his  mind,  awakened  his  emotions 
and  fitted  him  to  receive  that  inspiration  which  helps 
those  who  help  themselves.  If  a  speaker  will  make  a 
genuine  preparation  and  a  clear-cut  outline,  let  him 
abandon  it  on  the  platform;  provided,  he  is  sure  that 
under  the  circumstances  he  can  do  better.  Generally  it 
is  best  to  stick  to  what  one  has  deliberately  decided  it  is 
wise  to  say.  To  abandon  it  is  always  a  risk ;  but  it  is  far 
less  of  a  risk  for  the  man  who  has  made  definite  prepara- 
tion than  for  one  who  is  trusting  to  luck.    As  for  the  one 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  S99 


who  writes  his  speech,  he  should  change  his  outline  when- 
ever he  finds  a  surely  better  order. 

And,  finally  as  to  ease,  the  best  sort  of  ease  is  his  who 
in  extemporizing  knows  that  he  has  a  clear  line  of  thought 
at  his  command ;  or  who  in  writing  can  proceed  straight 
through  to  his  conclusion,  without  cutting  out  and  patch- 
ing on,  as  the  man  who  writes  without  an  outline  must 
do,  if  he  is  not  content  with  ramblings.  It  is  the  driver 
with  a  sure  knowledge  of  his  route  who  can  proceed  with 
ease  and  speed. 

The  objection  that  an  outline  destroys  the  beauty  of 
a  speech,  holds  good  only  for  outlines  that  are  too  ob- 
trusive, because  not  properly  covered.  A  skeleton,  some 
one  has  observed  in  this  connection,  is  not  a  thing  of 
beauty,  *  ^but  the  human  body  would  lack  its  beauty  with- 
out this  same  ugly  skeleton.''  It  would  be  as  formless 
as  a  jelly-fish.  The  outline  should  be  sufficiently  in  evi- 
dence to  help  the  hearer  to  grasp  easily  the  parts  and 
their  articulations.  I  quote  from  Phillips  Brooks  with 
much  pleasure,  because  he  was  a  great-hearted  man  whose 
preaching  was  remarkable  for  spontaneity  and  enthusi- 
asm: ^ 

^ '  In  the  desire  to  make  a  sermon  seem  free  and  sponta- 
neous there  is  a  prevalent  dislike  to  giving  it  its  necessary 
formal  structure  and  organism.  The  statement  of  the 
subject,  the  division  into  heads,  the  recapitulation  at  the 
end,  all  the  scaffolding  and  anatomy  of  a  sermon  is  out 
of  favor,  and  there  are  many  good  jests  about  it.  I  can 
only  say  that  I  have  come  to  fear  it  less  and  less.  The 
escape  from  it  must  be  not  negative  but  positive.  The 
true  way  to  get  rid  of  the  bonyness  of  your  sermon  is  not 
by  leaving  out  the  skeleton,  but  by  clothing  it  with  flesh. 
True  liberty  in  writing  comes  by  law^  and  the  more  thor- 

1  Lectures  on  Preaching,  p.  177t 


400 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


oughly  the  outlines  of  your  work  are  laid  out  the  more 
freely  your  sermou  will  flow,  like  an  unwasted  stream  be- 
tween its  well-built  banks.  I  think  that  most  congrega- 
tions welcome,  and  are  not  offended  by  clear,  precise 
statements  of  the  course  which  a  sermon  is  going  to  pur- 
sue, carefully  marked  division  of  its  thoughts,  and  above 
all,  by  full  recapitulation  of  its  argument  at  the  close. 
.  .  .  Leave  to  the  ordinary  Sunday-school  address  its  un- 
questioned privilege  of  inconsequence  and  incoherence. ' ' 

We  must  seek  the  happy  mean.  We  do  wish  ease  and 
spontaneity  and  individuality ;  and  we  also  want  coherent 
thought.  As  the  quotation  just  above  indicates,  these 
can  readily  be  combined. 

''But  So  and  So  does  not  make  an  outline.  He  told 
me  just  before  he  spoke  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was 
going  to  say/'  Chesterton  tells  somewhere  of  a  gardener 
who  heard  his  master  declaiming,  out  in  the  shrubbery, 
''Mr.  Speaker,  had  I  for  one  moment  thought  of  the  pos- 
sibility that  you  would  call  upon  me  this  evening — 
Chesterton  adds,  ' '  It  takes  a  long  time  to  prepare  an  im- 
promptu." But  So  and  So  is  quite  above  deception? 
Well,  he  may  have  meant  that  he  had  no  written  outline ; 
and  he  may  be  one  of  those  clear-headed  persons  who 
can  analyze  a  subject  thoroughly  without  paper.  Per- 
haps he  was  suffering  from  nerves,  and  really  felt  that 
he  had  lost  all  he  had  planned  to  say.  Such  attacks  come 
upon  old  speakers  at  times.  Perhaps  the  situation  was 
such  that  he  had  to  wait  till  he  began,  to  decide  upon  one 
of  several  lines  of  thought  to  use;  and  in  that  sense  he 
did  not  know  what  he  would  say.  Perhaps  what  he  said 
was  literally  true,  and  perhaps  also  he  was  about  to  make 
a  failure.  Remember,  not  all  failures  are  set  down  as 
such.  The  speaker  gets  through  after  a  fashion,  perhaps 
says  good  things,  perhaps  gets  applause ;  yet  does  not  ac- 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


401 


complish  his  purpose.  Perhaps,  after  all,  he  did  not 
know  what  he  would  say,  and  yet  he  did  have  a  real 
success.  Then  he  was  a  man  of  exceptional  ability  as  a 
speaker,  or  had  an  unusual  occasion,  or  unusual  luck. 
He  probably  was  a  man  of  experience,  and  had  been 
thinking  and  speaking  much  on  the  subject,  and  he  soon 
hit  a  familiar  trail.  But  why  should  a  less  experienced 
speaker  think  that  he  should  attempt  all  that  the  experi- 
enced speaker  does  ?  especially  when  he  knows  that  most, 
even  of  the  experienced  speakers,  are  ineffective  much  of 
the  time? 

But  if  one  really  knows  his  subject  thoroughly,  it  is 
said,  he  does  n 't  need  an  outline.  That  is  a  large  '  *  if  " ; 
but  if  one  really  knows  his  subject  thoroughly  and  sys- 
tematically he  is  in  much  better  case  than  one  of  half 
knowledge.  If  he  simply  has  a  lot  of  miscellaneous  in- 
formation about  the  subject,  he  is  the  most  dangerous  of 
speakers  to  let  loose  without  an  outline.  He  will  have 
no  sense  of  relations  and  values,  and  he  will  try  to  tell 
all  he  knows  in  a  rambling  fashion.  The  man  of  real 
mastery,  it  is  true,  will  already  have  his  ideas  arranged 
in  systematic  form.  Still,  as  he  must  usually  limit  his 
scope,  he  will  need  to  select  and  arrange  a  scheme.  Such 
a  man  is  just  the  one  who  is  most  likely  to  make  a  careful 
outline. 

Even  the  speaker  who  has  wide  knowledge  and  has 
spoken  much  on  his  theme,  often  shows  the  need  of  an 
outline.  Take,  for  example,  the  ordinary  agitator  for 
prohibition,  women's  suffrage,  or  socialism.  He  knows 
that  he  can  talk  freely  on  any  part  of  his  general  subject, 
and  he  is  likely  to  trust  to  luck.  He  knows  that  his 
partizans  will  applaud  anyhow.  And  he  moves  on  too 
rapidly  from  place  to  place  really  to  gauge  his  eft'ective- 
ness.    I  have  in  mind  a  speaker  for  socialism,  a  man  of 


402 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


courage,  intelligence,  and  more  than  average  training  in 
speaking;  yet  in  a  two-hour  address  he  talked  all  over 
the  subject  of  socialism,  not  sticking  to  any  phase  for 
five  minutes,  and  often  not  even  through  one  sentence. 
He  reduced  his  subject  to  a  state  best  compared  to  a  ball 
of  yarn  after  a  session  with  a  kitten. 

As  for  the  objection  that  making  an  outline  increases 
labor,  the  answer  is  that  this  is  not  true  for  one  who 
wishes  to  do  well.  It  saves  labor,  for  it  is  easier  to  work 
certain  defects  out  of  a  speech  in  the  outline  form  than  in 
any  other.  The  objection  is  prompted  by  laziness,  if  one 
is  to  be  brutally  honest  about  the  matter.  It  springs 
from  the  disinclination  of  the  human  animal  to  think. 
It  is  easier,  as  is  said,  to  write  a  speech  than  to  make  an 
outline, — easier,  that  is,  for  a  facile  pen,  or  a  glib  tongue 
to  run  off  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  words,  letting  the  I 
associational  process  guide.  But  that  is  not  thinking, 
and  not  the  process  by  which  one  proceeds  to  a  clearly 
conceived  goal  by  wisely  adapted  means.  It  is  easy  ta 
talk  all  day  and  yet  say  nothing. 

The  analysis.    Before  one  can  make  an  outline  of  any 
value,  he  must  have,  of  course,  an  analysis  of  his  subject. 
This  he  should  be  making  from  the  beginning  of  his  think- 
ing and  reading  on  his  topic.    When  a  speech  will  not  j 
come  out  right,  or  important  points  seem  to  have  no  place,  | 
or  an  argument  is  inconclusive,  or  an  explanation  inade- 
quate, the  trouble  is  probably  in  the  analysis.    To  analyze 
a  subject  is  to  resolve  it  into  its  parts  and  to  determine 
their  relations  to  the  whole  and  to  each  other;  or,  in  ; 
terms  of  outlines,  to  determine  what  is  the  central  idea,  \ 
what  are  the  main-heads  of  the  discussion,  what  are  iheir  ! 
relations  to  the  central  idea  and  to  each  other,  and  what 
are  the  subordinate  and  supporting  ideas  for  each  main- 
^head. 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


403 


As  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter  IV,  this  process  is  much 
facilitated  by  jotting  down  each  point  on  a  separate  card 
and  arranging  and  re-arranging  these  till  those  which 
are  most  closely  related  are  in  one  group.  Simple 
schemes  of  analysis  prove  helpful.  If  you  are  dealing 
with  an  evil,  you  can  usually  arrange  your  material  by 
this  scheme :  This  is  the  evil ;  this  is  the  remedy ;  it  is  the 
best  remedy ;  the  objections  to  it  are  not  sound.  To  illus- 
trate :  The  evil  is  starvation  wages  for  women  and  chil- 
dren in  the  textile  factories;  the  remedy  is  a  minimum 
wage  law ;  there  is  no  other  remedy  so  good ;  the  objec- 
tions are  not  sound.  Or  one  may  say,  This  is  the  situa- 
tion we  must  deal  with;  the  method  I  propose  will  pro- 
duce such  and  such  happy  results;  the  opposite  course 
will  produce  bad  results.  Or  in  exposition.  This  is 
the  problem  I  have  to  explain  (say  a  gas  engine)  ;  these 
are  the  elements  which  must  be  treated  (ignition,  stroke, 
etc.)  ;  or,  again,  This  is  the  story  I  have  to  tell ;  these  are 
the  main  episodes  into  which  it  is  divided.  These  simple 
devices  are  means  of  getting  one's  mental  machinery 
started,  of  getting  past  the  *^dead  center,"  so  to  speak, 
which  sometimes  holds  one  when  he  faces  a  mass  of 
material. 

The  different  persons,  or  classes,  or  interests  involved 
may  suggest  an  analysis.  Suppose  you  have  these  notes : 
Giving  tips.  Rapid  growth  in  the  United  States.  Pa- 
trons in  hotels  have  to  pay  annoying  fees.  Employees 
take  little  interest  in  work  which  brings  no  tips.  Tipping 
makes  pay  uncertain.  Tipping  decreases  the  self-respect 
of  employees.  This  matter  given  out  in  a  class  for  rapid 
outlining  has  produced  some  weird  arrangements;  yet 
with  the  clue  suggested  it  is  very  simple,  as  the  following 
outline  will  show : 


404 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Introduction 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  custom  of  tipping  in  this  country  has 
caused  an  agitation  for  its  abolition. 
Tipping  should  be  abolished. 

Discussion 

I,    Tipping  is  bad  for  patrons ;  for 

1.  They  have  to  pay  annoying  fees  in  order  to  get  good 
service. 

II.    Tipping  is  bad  for  employers ;  for 

1.  Employees  take  little  interest  in  work  which  brings 
no  tips. 

III.    Tipping  is  bad  for  employees ;  for 

1.  It  makes  pay  uncertain. 

2.  It  decreases  self-respect. 

Conclusion 

Since  tipping  is  bad  for  patrons,  for  employers  and  for  em- 
ployees, it  should  be  abolished. 

This  is  not  a  convincing  argument,  for  lack  of  sufficient 
data  and  arguments ;  but  in  arrangement  it  is  clear  and 
logical.  Perhaps  you  can  arrange  it  in  a  better  way. 
Try  it. 

Parts  of  the  outline.  First  should  stand  the  title. 
This  should  be  short,  but  significant.  Even  in  the  rare 
case  in  which  the  speaker  wishes  to  keep  his  audience  in 
the  dark  as  to  his  real  position,  he  should  have  a  title 
which,  when  read  in  the  newspaper  or  announced  by  the 
chairman,  will  direct  thought  in  the  desired  direction. 
Usually  the  title  should  announce  the  subject  as  plainly 
as  possible.  If  one  does  not  wish  to  say  he  is  to  speak 
for  the  abolition  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  one  may  make 
his  title,  Shall  we  abolish  the  Monroe  Doctrine?  I  speak 
of  the  effect  of  the  title  upon  the  audience  because  this 
is  the  one  part  of  the  outline  given  to  it. 

In  the  simplest  outline  the  introduction  should  usually 
have  two  parts;  and  first,  the  approach  sentence.  This 
should  contain  a  condensed  statement  of  the  idea  relied 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


405 


upon  to  awaken  preliminary  interest,  or  to  induce  the 
desired  mood,  or  it  may  contain  needed  information, — 
whatever  the  given  situation  demands.  In  some  cases 
subheadings  may  be  desirable.  The  approach  should  not 
be  some  inane,  perfunctory  thing,  such  as,  ^*I  wish  to 
make  a  few  remarks  on  capital  punishment'' ;  but  should 
serve  a  definite  purpose;  and  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  it  should  bear  a  plain  relation  to  the  topic,  and  not 
be  a  mere  preliminary  flourish. 

Next  in  the  introduction  there  should  stand  a  subject 
sentence.  This  should  embody  the  central  thought  of 
the  speech,  the  proposition  to  be  proved,  the  problem  to 
be  explained,  the  thought  to  be  amplified,  etc.  There 
are  times  when  the  approach  sentence  and  the  subject 
sentence  may  be  one  and  the  same,  when  the  mere  state- 
ment of  the  resolution  or  the  problem  awakens  interest 
and  furnishes  all  needed  information ;  but  usually  the  in- 
troduction should  have  two  parts. 

It  is  assumed  in  the  form  I  am  describing,  and  in  the 
other  forms  suggested  below,  that  the  speaker  will  set 
forth  early  in  his  discourse  what  he  proposes  to  prove, 
explain,  or  develop;  and  this  is  the  normal  procedure. 
It  helps  the  audience  to  understand  the  bearing  of  each 
idea  as  it  is  brought  forth,  as  is  suggested  in  the  excerpt, 
above,  from  Phillips  Brooks.  As  for  the  infrequent  cases 
in  which  one  does  not  wish  to  state  in  advance  what  he 
proposes  to  do,  and  even  does  not  wish  to  state  this  at 
all,  I  suggest  that  he  still  place  the  subject  sentence  in 
the  outline  in  its  normal  position,  but  inclosed  in  brackets^ 
in  order  that  he  may  make  sure  that  it  is  clear  to  him- 
self. A  clear  and  definite  subject  sentence  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  one  making  an  outline ;  for  every 
other  part  should  show  a  clear  relation  to  this  statement 
of  the  central  idea, 


406  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  arrangement  of  the  discussion,  with  main-heads 
and  subheads,  can  readily  be  grasped  by  study  of  the 
outlines  given.  The  main-heads  should  be  such  state- 
ments as,  being  themselves  established,  will  establish  the 
contention  set  forth  in  the  subject  sentence,  if  one  is 
outlining  an  argument ;  or  such  as  will,  when  explained 
themselves,  make  clear  the  main  problem;  or,  if  one  is 
trying  to  impress  an  understood  and  accepted  truth,  the 

^  main-heads  should  be  statements  of  the  ideas  chosen  to 
impress  it ;  and  so  on.  The  chief  consideration  is  that 
these  main-heads  should  clearly  state  a  major  division  of 

^.the  subject;  and  should  reveal  an  unmistakable  relation 
to  the  subject  sentence.    And  what  is  true  of  the  main- 

*■  heads  in  their  relation  to  the  subject  sentence  should 
be  true  of  the  subheads  in  their  relation  to  their  main- 
heads.  But  since  the  major  considerations  in  regard  to 
the  discussion,  as  in  regard  to  the  outline  as  a  whole, 
are  matters  of  clearness  and  coherence,  I  prefer  to  treat 
them  in  detail  under  those  headings. 

The  conclusion,  whether  it  is  to  be  a  summary  of  argu- 
ment or  explanation,  or  is  to  draw  a  lesson,  impress  the 
major  thought  by  a  vivid  restatement  or  illustration, 
make  a  plea  for  action,  or  do  several  of  these  things, 
should  be  a  genuine  conclusion,  a  real  outgrowth  of  the 
speech,  and  so  stated  in  the  outline  that  it  will  be  plainly, 
not  something  tacked  on,  but  an  integral  part  of  the  or- 
ganism. 

Clearness  of  the  outline.  Let  the  standard  of  clearness 
be,  not  clear  merely  to  yourself,  but  clear  %  another  who 
might  read  your  outline.  Just  as  a  way  of  putting  the 
idea,  let  us  say,  so  clear  that  a  reporter  who  does  not  hear 
your  speech  could  make  a  just  summary  of  it  from  your 
outline.  First,  an  outline  clear  to  one  who  reads  it  gives 
your  critic  a  good  chance  to  help  you.    And,  in  certain 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  407 


respects,  he  can  help  you  more  by  criticising  your  outline 
than  your  completely  written  speech;  for  he  can  judge 
more  readily  its  unity,  coherence,  order  and  logic.  Sec- 
ondly, what  you  make  clear  to  another  is  mo^  surely 
clear  to  yourself.  We  often  find  that  what  we  thought 
we  had  clearly  in  mind  is  far  from  clear  when  we  at- 
tempt to  express  it.  To  the  end  of  clearness  and  definite- 
ness,  write  only  complete  sentences  in  your  outline.  In 
the  majority  of  cases,  one  who  has  made  a  catch-word 
outline  will  fail  to  answer  clearly  questions  as  to  his 
meaning.  The  complete  sentence,  as  is  true  of  the  whole 
outline,  does  not  insure  clear  thinking,  but  it  does  make 
clear  thinking  more  probable.  If  one  will  try  to  make 
each  statement  as  clear  and  specific  as  possible,  his  grasp 
will  surely  grow.    Do  not  write  mere  hints. 

Coherence  of  the  outline.  The  outline  is  particularly 
valuable  for  securing  coherence,  and  coherence  should  be 
its  major  virtue.  If  one  makes  a  clear  analysis  of  his 
subject,  and  then  carries  out  the  suggestions  already 
given  with  reference  to  making  each  part  of  an  outline 
show  its  relation  to  the  other  parts,  and  especially  with 
reference  to  making  the  main-heads  of  the  discussion 
show  a  clear  relation  to  the  subject  sentence,  and  each 
subheading  show  a  clear  relation  to  its  main-head,  one 
will  have  a  good  start  on  a  coherent  outline.  But  sev- 
eral more  specific  suggestions  can  be  made. 

First,  let  us  be  sure  we  understand  this  expression,  '  ^  a 
clear  relation. ' '  The  relations  should  be  manifest,  with- 
out any  explanation.  They  should  stand  out  in  the  most 
evident  way.  If  there  is  an  unexpressed  step  between 
subhead  and  main-head,  which  has  to  be  supplied,  the 
outlining  is  not  good.  Look  over  the  outline  on  military 
training,  below,  with  this  thought  in  mind.  Again,  each 
statement  should  contain  but  a  single  idea;  for  if  there 


408 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


are  two  in  one  main-head,  then  the  relation  of  the  sub- 
heads is  no  longer  plain.  Consider  the  effect  of  com- 
bining in  the  outline  on  tipping,  two  main-heads :  Tip- 
ping is  bad  for  both  patrons  and  employees.  In  simple 
cases  no  great  confusion  may  be  caused ;  but  experience 
proves  that  disregard  of  the  two  suggestions  of  this  para- 
graph does  usually  cause  confusion,  and  that  the  maker 
of  an  outline  in  which  relations  are  not  plainly  manifest 
is  usually  himself  confused. 

Avoid  omnibus  headings,  such  as  those  in  the  outline, 
below,  on  the  no-treat  system.''  Since  any  argument 
at  all  will  go  under  them,  they  represent  no  gain  in 
analysis,  clearness,  orderliness,  or  coherence.  They  bear 
no  clear-cut  reference  to  the  central  idea,  and  they  con- 
tain no  definite  statement  which  one  can  say  at  a  cer- 
tain point  has  been  established  or  developed. 

The  coherence  of  the  outline  is  increased,  that  is,  the 
relation  of  its  parts  is  more  evident,  when  the  headings 
of  equal  rank  can  be  expressed  in  similar  terms  and 
constructions.  For  example,  compare  the  main-heads  of 
the  last  form  of  the  outline  on  the  George  Junior  Re- 
public with  those  in  the  earlier  forms. 

In  seeking  correct  correlation  and  subordination,  it  is 
important  to  note  whether  one  is  making  statements  in 
addition  to  those  already  made,  or  in  support  of  them, 
— a  matter  much  neglected  in  practice.  A  handy  test  of 
correlation  is  to  join  the  parts  with  the  proper  connective 
words  and  phrases.  If  one  finds  that  the  true  connective 
between  two  statements  is  and,  but,  yet,  or,  also,  again, 
then  the  statements  are  coordinate,  and  stand  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  subject  sentence,  or  to  some  main- 
head.  One  cannot  be  subordinate  to  the  other.  They 
take  the  same  order  of  numerals.  If  one  finds  that  the 
relation  between  two  statements  is  expressed  by  for, 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  409 


since,  because,  then  the  clause  governed  by  one  of  these 
is  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  other  and  subordinate  to 
it.  Or,  if  one  is  not  arguing,  he  may  find  the  relations 
expressed  by  such  subordinating  phrases  as  in  order  that, 
to  enumerate,  in  that,  to  explain,  to  illustrate.  It  is 
best  to  write  in  these  connective  words,  because  they  en- 
courage recognition  of  the  true  relations. 

Note  that  it  is  the  custom  always  to  put  a  main-head 
before  its  subheads;  and  since  this  is  a  well  established 
custom,  and  since  it  would  be  confusing  to  have  some 
paragraphs  arranged  one  way  and  some  the  other,  it  is 
best  to  follow  the  custom,  although  in  speaking  you  may 
follow  the  other  order.  So  we  may  say  that  if  you  find 
yourself  introducing  a  statement  in  the  discussion  part  of 
your  outline  with  hence,  therefore,  or  other  term  implying 
that  the  support  precedes  the  statement,  you  may  know 
that  your  order  is  wrong.  And  if  you  have  written  your 
outline  in  this  form : 

II.    Employees  take  little  interest  in  work  which  brings  no  tip, 
therefore 

1.  Tipping  is  bad  for  employers — 

then  you  can  see  that  the  offense  is  not  against  form 
merely;  for  this  arrangement  places  the  major  state- 
ment in  a  subordinate  position,  where  its  relation  to  the 
subject  sentence  is  less  evident. 

^  The  consistent  use  of  a  system  of  numerals  is  advis- 
able, as  making  easier  the  recognition  of  relations.  In- 
dentations are  another  mechanical  aid.  These  need  not 
be  made  so  marked  that  the  subheads  are  crowded  to 
the  extreme  right  of  the  page,  but  should  be  sufficient 
to  catch  the  eye  readily ;  and  they  should  be  regular. 

How  complete  should  the  outline  be?  This  question, 
often  asked  by  students,  cannot  be  answered  with  a  rule. 
We  may  say  that  everything  that  has  place  in  the  speech 


410 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


should  be  covered  by  some  statement  in  the  outline ;  and, 
conversely,  that  nothing  should  be  put  into  the  speech 
which  is  not  a  development  of  some  part  of  the  outline. 
For  example,  the  little  outline  on  tipping  does  not  provide 
for  any  discussion  of  whether  or  not  employees  actually 
receive  more  or  less  money  because  of  the  tipping  system ; 
but  does  provide  for  amplification  and  illustration  of  the 
statement  that  tipping  makes  pay  uncertain.  How  far 
subdivision  should  be  carried  depends  primarily  upon 
how  far  analysis  is  to  be  carried  in  the  speech.  If  the 
speaker  on  tipping  is  going  to  differentiate  in  his  speech 
distinct  ways  in  which  tipping  makes  pay  uncertain, 
then  the  outline  should  distinguish  them  by  subheads 
under  III,  1. 

How  long  the  outline  should  be  cannot  be  told  dog- 
matically ;  but  if  a  speaker  will  use  words  without  waste, 
he  will  be  able  to  make  a  correct  outline  for  a  ten-minute 
speech,  in  most  cases,  on  one  side  of  a  sheet  of  paper 
eight  by  ten  inches  in  size.  But  one  will  need  a  great 
deal  of  paper  to  make  a  complete  outline,  if  he  writes 
such  empty  headings  as  those  in  the  no-treat  system'' 
outline,  below.  Note  that  each  of  the  benefits  hinted 
at  in  I,  1,  2,  3,  of  the  outline  on  military  training,  below, 
could  have  been  expressed  in  ten  words. 

Summary.  It  will  be  convenient  to  have  the  principal 
suggestions  in  regard  to  outlines  brought  together  in  the 
form  of  test  questions : 

1.  Does  your  approach  sentence  serve  a  valid  and  use- 
ful purpose? 

2.  Does  your  subject  sentence  clearly  and  justly  ex- 
press the  central  idea  of  the  speech? 

3.  Do  the  main-heads  of  the  discussion,  when  read  to- 
gether, constitute  proof  or  a  sufficient  development  of 
this  central  statement? 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


411 


4.  Do  they  reveai,  as  clearly  as  is  feasible,  their  re- 
lations to  each  other  ? 

5.  Are  your  main  supporting  statements  actually  in 
major  positions  (main-heads)  ? 

6.  Do  the  subheads  fully  support  the  main-heads  they 
stand  under  ? 

7.  Is  each  subhead  truly  subordinate  to  the  main-head 
it  stands  under  ? 

8.  Are  correct  subordinating  words  and  phrases  used 
to  express  the  relations  ? 

9.  Are  the  relations  of  part  to  part  beyond  doubt,  and 
so  expressed  as  to  be  immediately  evident  ? 

10.  Is  your  system  of  indentations  and  numerals  con- 
sistent ? 

11.  Are  all  statements  as  brief  as  is  consistent  with 
clearness  ? 

12.  Does  each  express  an  idea,  not  merely  hint  at  it  ? 

13.  Does  each  state  a  single  point? 

14.  Does  the  outline  as  a  whole  cover  all  you  wish  to 
present  ? 

15.  Does  it  reveal  as  complete  an  analysis  as  you  in- 
tend to  employ  in  your  speech  ? 

A  speech  made  from  an  outline  which  will  bear  these 
tests  should  measure  up  to  the  standard  which  Plato 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  Socrates  in  the  Phaedrus: 

^^This  I  think  you  will  allow,  that  every  speech  ought 
to  be  put  together  like  a  living  creature,  with  a  body  of 
its  own,  lacking  neither  head  nor  foot,  but  having  both  a 
middle  and  extremities  in  perfect  keeping  with  one  an- 
other and  with  the  whole. ' ' 

Suggestions  further  illustrated.  I  wish  to  illustrate 
some  of  the  foregoing  suggestions  with  a  simple  outline. 
As  it  first  came  to  me  from  a  student  unskilled  in  speech- 
making,  it  was  of  the  Who- Which- What-Where  order : 


^12 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  George  Junior  Republic 

What  it  is. 
Where  it  is. 
How  it  is  run. 

This  states  nothing.  It  does  not  indicate  any  real 
analysis;  but  rather  the  kind  of  work  described  by  a 
student  who  said  of  his  outline,  * '  Oh,  I  just  put  down  a 
few  points  that  came  into  my  head."  No  introduction 
or  conclusion  is  indicated,  and  no  point  of  view.  The 
maker  of  this  outline  knew  extremely  little  of  his  subject, 
and  had  no  sense  of  values.  He  put  the  incidental  point 
of  location  on  an  equality  with  the  character  and  the 
management  of  the  institution.  "What  he  would  say 
under  these  heads  was  very  vague  in  his  mind.  After 
some  criticism  and  further  study  of  the  subject,  the  stu- 
dent brought  in  this : 

I.    The  George  Junior  Republic,  a  significant  institution.  One 
of  the  best  philanthropic  institutions  of  the  age. 
II.    "Nothing  without  labor." 

1.  Vagrancy  act. 

2.  Trades. 

III.  Form  of  government. 

1.  Like  United  States. 

2.  Legislature,  judges,  police,  etc. 

IV.  Good  qualities  developed. 

1.  Equality. 

2.  Earnestness  and  honesty. 

V.    The  Republic  makes  a  lasting  impression. 

It  is  evident  that  the  speaker  is  progressing;  he  has 
more  ideas  and  some  definite  impressions.  But  we  do 
not  yet  know  what  the  leading  thought  is;  nor  are  we 
sure  that  he  has  any  clear  idea  of  his  subject  as  a  whole. 
There  is  no  consistent  point  of  view,  no  unity;  there  is 
a  lack  of  statements ;  the  correlation  is  imperfect,  and  the 
main-heads  show  little  relation.  Under  I,  the  subhead 
is  not  clearly  subordinate  to  its  heading.    Under  II,  we 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  413 


can  guess  at  the  relations.  Under  III,  2  seems  properly 
to  be  a  subhead  rather  than  a  coordinate  of  1.  Under 
IV,  equality  is  improperly  classed  as  a  quality.  It  is 
not  in  the  same  category  as  earnestness  and  honesty. 
No  introduction  or  conclusion  is  marked  as  such;  but 
assuming  that  the  first  division  is  the  introduction,  it 
does  not  show  any  clear  relation  to  what  follows. 
Another  trial  produced  the  following : 

Introduction 

The  George  Junior  Republic  is  not  a  charity  institution. 

Discussion 
I.    "Nothing  without  labor." 
(Subheads  as  before.) 
II.    Forms  of  government. 
(Same  as  before.) 
III.    The  Republic  develops 

1.  Democracy. 

2.  Races  and  sexes. 

Conclusion 

Training  at  the  Republic  is  training  in  citizenship. 

The  faults  are  still  glaring  enough ;  yet  we  do  see  some 
progress  toward  a  real  conclusion.  Had  the  student  la- 
bored on,  his  next  stage  might  have  been  this : 

The  George  Junior  Republic 
Introduction 

A.  The  George  Junior  Republic  is  not  a  charity  institution. 

B.  It  is  an  institution  for  training  in  citizenship. 

Discussion 

I.    The  Republic  trains  for  citizenshix)  industrially :  in  that 

1.  Each  citizen  is  impressed  with  the  duty  of  self-support. 

a.  The  motto  and  policy  of  the  Republic  is,  "Nothing 
without  labor." 

2.  Each  learns  how  to  support  himself. 

a.  Each  must  learn  a  trade. 
II.    The  Republic  trains  for  the  civil  duties  of  citizenship ;  in  that 
1.  It  is  governed  by  laws  made  and  executed  by  its  citizens. 


414 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


2.  Its  forms  of  government  are  similar  to  those  of  the 

greater  Republic. 

3.  Citizens  learn  by  experience  the  need  of  protection  for 

person  and  property. 

4.  They  learn  also  the  evils  arising  from  inefficient  or  cor- 

rupt government. 

Conclusion 

Citizens  of  the  Junior  Republic  are  trained  for  citizenship  by 
actual  experience. 

Questions  might  be  raised  in  regard  to  this  outline; 
but  it  has  many  virtues:  It  has,  first,  an  introductory 
sentence  which  constitutes  an  approach  to  the  audience, 
by  matching  on  to  their  existing  impressions  in  regard  to 
the  subject ;  for  those  who  know  a  little  about  the  Kepub- 
lic  (and  the  speech  was  planned  for  them)  are  likely  to 
suppose  that  it  is  a  sort  of  charity  boys'  home.  This 
opening  statement  is  not  merely  something  to  get  started 
with ;  but  it  helps  to  get  rid  of  a  false  preconception,  and 
prepares  the  way  for  the  right  conception.  (Compare 
the  approach  sentence  of  the  outline,  below,  on  military 
training.)  The  outline  has  clearness,  unity,  coherence 
and  order.  It  has  a  definite  subject  sentence,  and  to  this 
each  main-head  is  plainly  related.  They  are  also  clearly 
related  to  each  other.  Each  subhead  also  is  clearly  re- 
lated to  its  main-head.  The  conclusion  is  plainly  the  out- 
growth of  the  discussion,  and  shows  its  relation  to  the 
subject  sentence. 

A  few  more  outlines  are  added  for  criticism  as  to 
their  good  and  bad  features.  They  are  printed  sub- 
stantially as  they  were  handed  in.  In  the  first  I  have 
omitted  the  student's  subheads. 

Introduction 
The  * 'no-treat"  system  a  former  custom  at  Cornell. 
Seems  to  have  been  forgotten. 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


415 


Discussion 

I.    Some  arguments  in  favor  of  not  treating. 
II.    Important  arguments  generally  overlooked. 

Conclusion 
Cornell  should  set  an  example  to  other  colleges. 

You  will  observe  that  there  is  no  subject  sentence,  no 
statement  to  prove,  although  this  is  evidently  intended 
as  an  argument.    But  if  we  supply  the  statement.  The 

no-treat"  system  should  be  made  permanent  at  Cor- 
nell, then  we  see  that  the  main-heads  do  not  support  the 
assertion,  do  not  reveal  any  analysis  of  the  question, 
and  in  fact  are  waste  of  space.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
arguments  which  stood  under  either  one  might  as  well 
have  stood  under  the  other.  They  should  have  been  re- 
lated directly  to  the  subject  sentence.  You  will  observe 
further  that  the  conclusion  is  rather  a  surprise  than  a 
natural  outgrowth. 

Value  of  Universal  Military  Training  in  High  Schools 
Introduction 

A.  Universal  military  training  would  not  make  the  United  States 

an  aggressive  nation. 

B.  This  training  would  prepare  the  United  States  to  resist  ag- 

gression. 

Discussion 

I.    There  are  many  benefits  derived  from  this  training. 

1.  Benefit  derived  by  the  student. 

2.  Benefit  derived  by  the  school. 

3.  Benefit  derived  by  the  government. 

II.    Illustration  of  the  folly  of  unpreparedness  in  the  past. 
1.  Our  lack  of  preparation  in  the  Civil  War. 
III.    Preparedness    through    universal    trainiug    best  insurance 
against  war. 

1.  No  nation  will  attack  a  well  armed  and  prepared  na- 

tion. 

2.  Age  of  universal  peace  has  not  been  reached  yet. 


416 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Conclusion 

The  folly  of  the  past  by  being  unprepared  is  a  lesson  that  we 
must  be  prepared  through  universal  training  to-day. 

Osborne's  Prison  Reform  Plan 
Introduction 

A.  Warden  Osborne's  plan  appeals  to  the  prisoner's  sense  of  honor. 

B.  It  is  a  good  plan  and  should  be  continued. 

Discussion 
I.    It  benefits  the  State ;  for 

1.  It  increases  the  output  of  manufactured  goods. 

2.  It  reduces  expenses ;  for 

a.  Fewer  wardens  are  required. 

b.  It  turns  out  men  resolved  not  to  return  to  prison. 
II.    It  benefits  the  prisoner ;  for 

1.  It  preserves  his  health. 

2.  It  prepares  him  for  life  after  he  gets  out. 

Conclusion 

Osborne's  plan  is  a  good  one  and  should  be  continued. 
Concrete  examples  of  Osborne's  work. 

The  form  of  outline  illustrated  above  can  usually  be 
followed  in  arranging  simple  speeches  of  all  kinds;  and 
the  forms  suggested  below  do  not  differ  from  it  in  essen- 
tials. But  certain  elaborations,  particularly  of  the  in- 
troduction, are  worth  considering  with  reference  to  less 
simple  speeches. 

The  classical  form.  The  classical  form  of  oration 
grew  out  of  the  work  of  the  rhetoricians  who  in  ancient 
Greece  wrote  speeches  for  pleaders  in  the  courts.  It  is 
naturally  best  adapted  to  the  argumentative  speech. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  formulated  first  by  Corax,  a  Sicil- 
ian, about  twenty-four  hundred  years  ago;  and  it  has, 
with  modifications,  served  as  the  standard  for  orators 
down  to  our  time.  Andrew  D.  White,  whose  broad  ex- 
perience and  recognized  ability  give  weight  to  his  opinion, 
has  often  expressed  the  conviction  that  this  classical 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES  417 


form  has  so  long  held  the  field  because  it  is  the  best  pos- 
sible form,  just  as  the  Corinthian  pillar  is  the  best  possi- 
ble pillar.  In  many  trying  emergencies,  he  says,  this 
plan  has  helped  him  in  throwing  his  thoughts  quickly  into 
order. 

^ '  ^  Corax  .  .  .  framed  four  divisions :  introduction, 
narration,  proof,  and  conclusion.  Aristotle,  a  number  of 
years  later,  reaches  practically  the  same  result,  although 
his  designation  is  slightly  different;  he  also  has  four 
divisions:  exordium,  exposition,  proof,  and  peroration. 
The  first  important  deviation  from  this  plan  is  made  by 
Cicero,  who  adds  two  new  divisions,  thus  making  in  all 
six:  introduction,  narration,  proposition,  proof,  refuta- 
tion, and  conclusion. ' ' 

I  will  briefly  describe  the  five  divisions  which  seem  to 
me  worth  emphasizing : 

1.  The  exordium.  This  word,  by  its  derivation,  means 
the  beginning  of  weaving,  the  laying  of  the  warp;  and 
it  suggests  that  from  the  very  first  words  of  a  speech 
we  should  be  carrying  out  a  plan.  It  is  a  better  word 
than  introduction^  when  one  is  separating  the  beginning 
of  a  speech  into  parts,  for  the  introduction  includes,  in 
modem  terminology,  all  down  to  discussion.  What  the 
exordium  shall  consist  of  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  say, 
except  in  the  most  general  way.  Whatever  will  help  in 
getting  on  good  terms  with  your  hearers,  in  getting  them 
interested,  thinking  on  the  right  line,  and  listening  with 
fairness.  It  is,  as  Cicero  tells  us,  the  part  to  be  prepared 
last,  after  one  knows  w^ell  what  he  has  to  introduce. 
Often  it  is  lost  in  the  next  division. 

2.  The  exposition.  This  term  is  better  than  narration, 
for  narration  is  only  one  way  of  explaining.  This  part 
includes  whatever  is  needed  in  the  way  of  preliminary 

1  Ringwalt,  Modern  American  Oratory,  p.  53. 


418 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


definition  and  explanation,  the  history  and  origin  of  the 
question,  etc. 

3.  The  partition.  I  accept  Ringwalt's  suggestion  of 
substituting  this  term  for  proposition,  which  is  limited 
to  argument.  By  whatever  name  it  is  described,  this 
division  includes  the  speaker's  statement  about  what  he 
proposes  to  set  forth, — what  he  proposes  to  do  and  does 
not  propose  to  do. 

4.  Discussion.  This  is  a  better  term  for  general  use 
than  proof,  which  also  belongs  to  argument. 

5.  Peroration  or  conclusion.  The  term  peroration  is 
now  usually  reserved  for  the  most  pretentious  sort  of 
speech. 

The  classical  form  is  certainly  valuable  to  have  in 
mind,  to  be  used  on  many  occasions,  perhaps  on  most; 
though  one  may  question  if  it  is  best  for  all  speeches, 
just  as  one  may  question  if  the  Corinthian  pillar  is  best 
for  all  places.  The  classical  form  may  seem  too  elab- 
orate for  some  speeches ;  but  it  does  contain,  in  the  normal 
order,  the  elements  which  are  needed  in  most.  And  al- 
though in  the  speeches  of  to-day  the  divisions  are  often 
not  strongly  marked,  analysis  will  show  usually  that 
they  are  present  in  speeches  that  are  well  ordered.  Look 
over,  for  example,  the  speeches  of  Phillips. 

You  will  see  that  the  classical  form  corresponds  roughly  to  the 
scheme  of  parts  set  clown  in  modern  works  on  debating,  and  fol- 
lowed to  some  extent  in  the  discussion  of  the  Approach  to  the 
Audience  in  Chapter  IX.  It  will  be  well  to  compare  what  is  said 
here  with  that  discussion  and  also  with  the  treatment  of  the  sub- 
gect  in  a  good  work  on  debating.  Foster's  Argumentation  and  De- 
hating  (Chapter  X)  is  suggested.  Though  Foster's  scheme  is 
rather  rigid,  the  student  of  speaking  will  profit  by  following  it 
through  strictly  with  at  least  three  or  four  complete  arguments. 

Another  form  of  outline.  I  will  here  lay  out  a  speech 
plan  which  combines  many  of  the  suggestions  made  in 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


419 


this  and  in  other  chapters.  I  use  the  term  approach  as 
more  suggestive  than  introduction. 

The  Approach 

A.  Exordium. 

B.  Explanations. 

C.  Elimination  of  irrelevant  matter. 

D.  Concessions. 

E.  Common  ground. 

F.  Issues. 

G.  Partition  or  proposition. 

Discussion 
Conclusion 

You  will  understand  that  this  is  offered,  not  as  some- 
thing to  be  followed  rigidly  under  all  circumstances,  but 
as  something  to  help  you  in  your  arrangement.  Some 
such  form  should  be  followed,  unless  you  are  sure  in  a 
given  case  that  you  have  something  better.  Not  all  of 
these  parts  are  needed  in  every  speech,  and  several  of 
them  may  blend  together.  All  down  to  E  may,  in  some 
speeches,  be  means  of  getting  on  common  ground ;  but  all 
these  parts  should  be  taken  into  account  in  any  speech 
for  belief  or  action. 

The  order  may  be  changed  much  by  the  exigencies  of 
an  occasion.  In  a  legislative  debate,  for  example,  one 
might  wish  to  begin,  without  introduction,  on  a  rebuttal 
argument.  At  times  there  may  be  no  divisions  at  all. 
But  this  admission  in  regard  to  the  exceptional  speech, 
is  not  available  for  the  lazy  speaker  who  wishes  an  excuse 
for  not  recognizing  the  divisions  which  should  be  present 
in  his  speech. 


420 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


If  the  speech  is  expository,  there  is  not  often  need  of  so 
much  elaboration  of  the  opening  as  in  argumentative 
speeches;  though  there  is  usually  need  for  preliminary 
explanations  of  the  problem  and  what  is  to  be  attempted, 
and  there  is  often  need  of  awakening  interest,  and  some- 
times of  avoiding  prejudice.  Usually  the  approach  will 
not  need  more  than  these  divisions :  Common  ground  of 
interest.  Explanation  and  Partition. 

Descriptive  and  narrative  speeches  do  not  differ  greatly 
from  expository  speeches  in  regard  to  outlines.  Fre- 
quently the  descriptive  speech  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  expository  except  by  purpose.  Students  some- 
times think  that  a  narrative  speech  cannot  be  outlined; 
yet  there  are  in  a  story  more  or  less  distinct  episodes,  as 
in  a  play  there  are  acts  and  scenes.  No  kind  of  speech 
more  needs  orderly  progress  than  the  narrative.  What 
seems  simple  and  natural  in  a  well  told  story  is  prob- 
ably the  result  of  careful  planning  and  experimentation. 

Use  of  the  outline.  Note,  first,  since  some  have  trouble 
over  this  point,  that  an  outline  is  not  the  same  as  a  brief. 
A  brief,  in  common  usage,  is  a  complete  analysis  of  the 
arguments  for  or  against  a  resolution;  and  may  not 
be  the  outline  of  a  speech  at  all,  or  of  a  written 
argument.  Its  purpose  is  to  reveal  to  one  preparing 
for  a  debate  what  resources  he  has  to  draw  from.  He 
might  base  many  different  speeches  upon  it,  paying  no 
attention  to  its  order  and  using  but  a  small  part  of 
its  material  in  any  one.  The  outline  resembles  the  brief 
somewhat  in  form  and  purpose;  but  the  outline  is  the 
plan  of  a  particular  speech,  the  road  map  which,  with 
certain  limitations,  is  to  be  followed.  And  outlines  are 
for  speeches  of  all  kinds,  not  merely  for  the  argumenta- 
tive. 

Certain  limitations  have  already  been  noted  in  regard 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


421 


to  following  the  outline.  First,  one  may  wish  to  sup- 
press in  his  speech  the  statement  of  aim  embodied  in 
the  introduction  of  his  outline,  not  stating  this  in  plain 
terms  until  later  in  his  speech,  or  even  not  at  all.  Sec- 
ondly, one  often  wishes  in  his  speech  to  place  suf^ort- 
ing  statements  before  the  idea  supported ;  and  sometimes 
he  may  feel  it  unnecessary  to  state  this  at  all.  For  ex- 
ample, if  he  gives  one  or  more  incidents  which  impress 
strongly  Lincoln's  sagacity,  he  may  not  wish,  either  be- 
fore or  after  the  examples,  to  make  the  generalization  of 
his  outline,  Lincoln  w^as  a  sagacious  man."  It  is  fre- 
quently best  to  let  the  audience  draw  its  own  inference, 
and  this  is  especially  true  when  the  inference  is  unpleas- 
ant ;  as,  for  example,  ' '  John  Smith  is  a  liar. ' ' 

Thirdly,  the  speaker,  in  writing  his  speech  from  his 
outline,  or  in  extemporizing  from  it,  should  not  feel 
bound  to  follow  it  when  he  becomes  convinced  that  he 
can  do  better  by  making  a  departure.  But  he  should 
not  without  the  best  of  reasons  depart  from  his  carefully 
ordered  and  correlated  plan.  In  general,  there  should 
be  an  intelligent,  not  a  blind,  use  of  the  outline. 

If  the  speaker  is  to  extemporize  from  his  outline,  he 
should  work  over  the  thought  until  he  is  sure  he  can  de- 
velop it  clearly,  adequately  and  impressively;  until  he 
is  sure  that  he  has  at  command  facts  and  illustrations 
which  he  can  put  pithily,  and,  in  particular,  words  and 
phrases  with  which  he  can  express  the  more  difficult  and 
important  parts.  Especial  attention  should  be  given  to 
the  transitions,  for  it  is  at  a  transition,  ninety-nine  times 
out  of  a  hundred,  that  the  speaker  who  staggers  or 
breaks  down,  meets  his  difficulty. 

Inexperienced  speakers  should  practise  their  speeches 
after  the  outline  is  made.  Practice  will  clarify  ideas, 
bring  to  mind  varied  v/ays  of  expressing  them,  increase 


422 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


grasp  and  confidence,  and,  if  one  speaks  to  a  vividly 
imagined  audience,  tend  to  bring  one  into  the  speaking 
frame  of  mind.  Experienced  speakers  will  find  out  what 
methods  are  best  for  them ;  but  experienced  speakers  will 
not  hesitate,  when  anxious  to  do  well,  to  practise  their 
speeches. 

Since  speakers  almost  invariably  underestimate  the 
time  their  speeches  will  require,  they  will  do  well  to 
practise  with  timepiece  at  hand. 

One  may  take  his  outline  to  the  platform  and  lay  it 
upon  the  desk;  and  this  may  be  advisable  for  those  of 
treacherous  memory  upon  important  occasions.  For  the 
student  of  speaking,  and  especially  until  he  acquires  a 
good  degree  of  directness,  it  is  better  to  leave  the  out- 
line behind.  And  it  is  safe  to  say  that  most  audiences 
like  this  way  better.  One  who  is  to  speak  without  his 
outline  before  him,  should  fix  it  very  firmly  in  mind. 
This  will  be  much  easier  if  its  headings  are  so  expressed 
as  to  make  relations  boldly  evident. 

In  conclusion.  Careful  planning  is  as  necessary  to 
the  speaker  as  to  one  who  would  build  a  house  or  go  on  a 
journey  in  an  economical  and  efficient  way.  This  whole 
book  proceeds  on  the  assumption  that  one  will  accom- 
plish a  purpose  best  when  he  knows  precisely  what  it  is 
and  considers  the  best  means  to  the  end.  Contrary 
views  are  prompted,  in  most  cases,  by  indolence,  the  native 
disinclination  to  think,  or  by  the  mistaken  notion  that  we 
can  under  ordinary  circumstances  depend  upon  inspira- 
tion. There  is  something  we  call  inspiration,  but  it 
helps  those  who  first  help  themselves.  To  trust  to  it  is 
usually  to  talk  glibly  but  ineffectively.  The  best  in- 
spiration arises  from  the  knowledge  that  one  is  thoroughly 
prepared  with  facts  and  arguments,  that  these  are  clearly 
thought  out  and  arranged,  and  that  they  can  be  fittingly 


PLANS  AND  OUTLINES 


423 


expressed;  and,  further,  that  what  one  has  to  say  is  of 
interest  and  importance  to  the  audience.  The  young 
speaker  should  not  hope  to  do  all  that  he  observes  vet- 
erans doing ;  though  he  should  hope  by  training  himself 
to  surpass  many  of  those  veterans.  I  have  had  no  de- 
sire, however,  to  lay  down  rigid  rules  for  the  speaker; 
nor  have  I  endeavored  to  give  you  methods  to  take  the 
place  of  good  subject-matter.  All  we  teachers  can  hope 
to  do  is  to  help  you  in  becoming  intelligent  in  regard  to 
speech-making. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


FURTHER  ANALYSIS  OF  MENTAL  ACTION  AS  AFFECTING 
DEUVERY 

In  Chapter  II  we  examined,  in  a  somewhat  general 
way,  the  action  of  the  speaker's  mind  during  delivery. 
It  became  evident  that  a  high  degree  of  attention  is 
called  for ;  and  in  later  chapters  we  considered  what  can 
be  done  to  build  up  ideas  so  that  attention  to  them  shall 
be  as  easy  as  possible,  even  effortless.  In  this  chapter 
I  wish  to  return  to  the  subject  of  delivery.  If  one  de- 
livers speeches  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  sugges- 
tions of  Chapters  VI  to  XII,  he  will  presumably  come 
to  have  the  *'keen  sense  of  communication"  set  down  in 
Chapter  II  as  one  of  the  grand  essentials  of  good  deliv- 
ery; but  something  remains  to  be  said  of  the  other,  the 
*'full  realization  of  the  content  of  your  words  as  you 
utter  them,''  and  especially  something  more  definite 
with  reference  to  the  action  of  the  mind  in  relating  idea 
to  idea. 

To  attend  to  an  idea  means  that  one  holds  it  in  the 
focus  of  consciousness,  excluding  for  the  time  the  swarm 
of  other  ideas  and  sensations  that  constantly  bid  for 
attention.  '^We  cannot  attend  at  the  same  moment  to 
all  the  ideas  that  make  up  a  consciousness;  the  ^ grasp' 
of  attention  is  limited."^  We  can  think  clearly  and 
definitely  one  thing  at  a  time.  We  cannot  attend  to  all 
the  thought  of  even  a  short  speech  at  once,  or  of  the 

1  Titchener,  A  Primer  of  Psychology,  p.  75. 

424 


FURIHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY 


425 


ordinary  paragraph,  or  of  any  but  the  shortest  sentence. 
We  may  hold  in  mind  a  summary  of  a  speech;  but  the 
summary  is  only  the  thought  generalized,  without  its 
definite,  specific  phases.  If  we  are  to  have  definite 
thinking,  we  must  also  focus,  or  center,  upon  each  suc- 
cessive detail. 

But  it  does  not  follow  that  at  a  given  instant  we  are 
oblivious  of  all  but  the  one  idea,  as  an  isolated  thing. 
Just  as  when  one  focuses  his  eyes  upon  a  dot  at  the  cen- 
ter of  a  circle,  he  is  still  aware  of  the  white  background 
and  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the  center  of  a  circle ;  so  when 
one  fixes  attention  upon  an  idea  he  is  still  aware  that  it 
is  related  to  other  ideas  which  form  its  background  and 
its  margin.^  Moreover,  having  focused  upon  an  idea, 
the  mind  turns  definitely  to  the  relations  of  that  idea 
to  other  ideas. 

James  says^  of  the  stream  of  consciousness,^'  that 
*4ike  a  bird's  life,  it  seems  to  be  an  alternation  of  flights 
and  perchings.  .  .  .  The  resting-places  are  usually  occu- 
pied by  sensorial  images  of  some  sort,  .  .  ;  the  places  of 
flight  are  filled  with  thoughts  of  relations. "  So  we  may  | 
say  that  the  speaker 's  mind  should  dwell  definitely  upon ' 
successive  ideas,  and  also  maintain  a  sense  of  their  rela- 
tions. 

Centering  and  phrasing.  The  term  ^g^jitering  has  been 
used  to  indicate  this  focusing  or  prolonging  of  attention 
upon  an  idea  until  it  stands  out  in  relief  from  other 
ideas.  By  a  phrase  we  mean  a  word  or  a  group  of  words 
containing  such  a  part  of  the  thought  as  the  mind  fo- 
cuses upon,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  contain- 
ing a  center  of  attention;  and  by  phrasing  we  refer  to 

1  "Whenever  our  experience  shows  the  pattern  of  vivid  center  and 
dim  background,  of  bright  focus  and  obscure  margin,  then  we  have 
attention  before  us."    Titchener,  A  Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  92. 

^Psychology:  Briefer  (Jourse,  p.  100. 


426 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


the  action  of  the  voice  in  marking  a  phrgi^e,  whether  by 
pause,  or  by  change  of  rate,  pitch  oFTone  color.  The 
term  phrase  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  grammarian's 
use  of  the  same  word.  It  is  convenient  to  treat  center- 
ing and  phrasing  together;  for,  by  definition,  every 
phrase  embodies  a  thought  center  and  there  is  a  phrase 
for  every  center.  There  should  be  no  difficulty  in  keep- 
ing the  terms  distinct  when  we  consider  that  centering  is 
a  mental  action  and  phrasing  is  a  matter  of  words.  To 
avoid  a  common  misunderstanding,  note  here  that  every 
word  of  a  sentence  is  a  part,  or  the  whole,  of  some  phrase. 

The  physical  manifestation  of  centering  is  emphasis, 
whether  this  be  shown  in  increased  force,  pause,  inflec- 
tion, or  other  manner.  While  true  emphasis  is  of  high 
importance,  we  shall  say  little  of  it  as  such ;  for  the  term 
too  strongly  suggests  a  mechanical  application  of  force. 
We  shall  do  better  to  think  and  speak  of  the  mental  act 
of  centering ;  and  we  should  make  sure  that  our  emphasis 
springs  from  alert  thinking  and  a  keen  realization 
as  we  speak  of  the  relative  importance  of  ideas  and  of 
their  relations. 

There  may  be  place  for  the  study  of  word  emphasis ;  for  example, 
in  workmg  out  a  difl5eult  passage  in  Shakespeare :  but  at  present 
we  should  let  it  alone.  We  do  not  now  need  it,  for  we  are  learning 
a  better  way.  Besides  it  is  a  marvelously  intricate  subject.  To 
take  some  easy  examples:  *'What  is  nature  to  him?"  Suppose 
you  decide  to  emphasize  nature,  or  perhaps  liim.  You  may  in  either 
case  give  quite  a  wrong  meaning  because  you  have  failed  to  con- 
sider whether  the  question  is  sincere,  or  a  sneer.  I  heard  a  speaker 
say,  "The  minimum  wage  law  will  mitigate  the  evils  of  child  labor,'* 
emphasizing  the  correct  word,  mitigate^  but  giving  it  an  explosive 
emphasis  which  indicated  that  he  did  not  approve  of  such  mitiga- 
tion. So  it  is  quite  possible  to  emphasize  the  right  word  and  give 
the  wrong  me''^ning-  It  is  possible,  if  one  has  great  skill  in  deter- 
mining the  right  words  to  emphasize,  the  right  sort  of  emphasis  to 
give  them,  the  right  inflections,  etc.,  to  succeed  in  the  delivery  of 
these  and  far  more  difficult  sentences ;  but  in  order  to  do  so  one 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  JELIVERY  427 


must  first  gain  such  an  understanding  of  them  as,  kept  vigorously 
in  mind,  will  prompt  the  true  delivery  without  thought  of  emphasis 
or  inflection.  Take  another  simple  case:  A  speaker  said,  *'Lin- 
coln  was  snatched  from  obscurity,'*  yielding  >o  a  tendency  common, 
when  the  mind  is  sluggish,  to  stress  any  strong  word  regardless  of 
sense.  If  it  be  said  that  the  speaker  should  have  noted  which  is 
the  emphatic  word,  the  answer  is  that  rather  he  should  have  kept 
his  mind  awake.  And  this  case  suggests  anot'.ier  fact,  that  often 
no  one  word  bears  all  the  stress.  Surely  not  all  rests  here  on 
obscurity.  Very  wonderful  schemes  have  been  worked  out  to  indi- 
cate the  course  of  the  voice  in  all  cases,  but  these  are  so  intricate 
that  few  ever  succeed  in  learning  them ;  and,  worst  of  all,  these 
mechanical  devices  get  in  the  way  of  thinking.  Please  note,  that 
nowhere  in  this  chapter  are  you  asked  to  decide  which  word  is  em- 
phatic; and  please  understand  that  nowhere  is  it  intended  to  sug- 
gest mechanical  as  opposed  to  mental  action. 

Centering  and  phrasing  are  not  fixed  and  unchanging; 
but  they  vary  as  one conception  of  a  passage  varies,  as 
the  context  varies,  or  as  the  speaker  conceives  the  content 
to  be  more  or  less  familiar  or  difficult  to  his  hearers. 

Note  how  the  centers  shift  in  Emerson's  sentence,  "If  I  should 
make  the  shortest  list  of  the  qualifications  of  an  orator,  I  should 
begin  with  manliness,"  according  to  whether  we  assume  that  there 
has  been  no  preceding  discussion,  or  that  there  has  been  a  discus- 
sion about  orators,  or  statesmen,  or  soldiers,  or  about  the  qualifi- 
cations of  orators,  or  lists  of  qualifications. 

To  study  another  illustration :  *'If  ignorance  and  corruption 
and  intrigue  control  the  primaries,  and  manage  the  conventions, 
and  dictate  the  nominations,  the  fault  is  in  the  honest  and  intelli- 
gent workshop  and  ofiice,  in  the  library  and  parlor,  in  the  church 
and  the  school.'*  Taking  this  sentence  without  context,  each  detail 
may  call  for  a  modicum  of  attention  and  we  shall  have  many  cen- 
ters. Ignorance,  corruption,  and  intrigue  are  by  no  means  syno- 
nyms; each  is  a  distinct  cause  of  political  ills.  We  may  say  that 
each  of  these  three  w^ords  ends  a  phrase.  If  the  thought  is  very 
analytic,  this  would  be  right.  If,  however,  we  conceive  that  the 
main  point  of  the  sentence  is  elsewhere,  we  shall  probably  throw 
the  three  evils  together  as  a  thought  unit,  the  collective  cause  of 
political  ills, — and  end  the  phrase  with  intrigue.  This  will  be  bet- 
ter, for  if  we  give  attention  to  too  many  details,  we  shall  get  no 
unified  impression  from  the  sentence.  So  too  the  successive  stages 
of  candidate-making  may  be  considered  separately,  making  three 


428 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


phrases ;  or,  less  analytically,  as  but  one  whole,  though  this  last 
is  hardly  probable.  If  the  fact  of  fault  is  the  main  thought  of 
the  sentence,  then  a  ph:'ase  will  end  with  fault;  but  if  that  is  taken 
for  granted  and  the  cVief  point  is  thought  to  be  toliose  fault,  then 
probably  office,  parlor,  and  church  will  end  the  remaining  phrases. 
If  the  distinction  be:ween  workshop  and  office  is  thought  of  dis- 
tinctly they  will  for  n  distinct  centers ;  but  if  they  are  thought  of 
together  as  represeriative  of  business,  there  will  be  but  one  phrase. 
The  more  analytic  treatment  would  be  extreme  and  would  lead  to 
labored  delivery. 

Taking  the  sentence  in  its  context,  the  case  is  much  simpler. 
(See,  at  the  end  of  Chapter  XIV,  the  selection  Who  is  to  Blame V) 
We  find  that  the  whole  sentence  is  a  restatement,  for  purposes  of 
transition  and  increased  definiteness,  of  what  has  been  said  or 
implied  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  On  closer  analysis  we  find 
that,  considering  the  context  both  before  and  after  this  sentence, 
the  especial  purpose  is  to  emphasize  who  is  at  fault.  Since  the 
thought  at  this  stage  is  familiar,  our  thought  units  can  be  larger, 
and  this  is  especially  true  of  the  less  important  parts.  A  mind 
keenly  alive  to  the  relation  of  this  sentence  to  the  whole,  will  be 
likely  to  take  in  all  to  intrigue  at  one  *'spurt"  of  attention;  to  note 
in  very  rapid  succession  the  three  stages  of  the  process  of  nomina- 
tion ;  and  to  pass  over  the  idea  of  fault,  which  is  already  clearly 
in  mind,  letting  it  fall  into  the  phrase  with  "workshop  and  office," 
The  phrases  then  will  end  with  intrigue^  meeting,  convention,  nomi- 
nation, office,  parlor,  and  school.  As  has  been  indicated,  the  dura- 
tion of  attention  upon  the  phrases  will  vary  with  their  importance, 
and  this  means  their  importance  at  the  moment. 

While  phrasing  is  often  variable,  this  is  not  always 
true.  There  are  some  expressions  that  will  not  bear 
breaking.  For  example,  The  United  States  of  America 
could  under  only  the  most  unusual  conditions  be  con- 
ceived as  two  thought  units.  It  is  as  much  a  unit,  a 
single  name,  as  France,  It  would  be  as  proper  to  sepa- 
rate in  thought  and  delivery  the  two  syllables  of  the 
name  Fuller,  or  the  two  parts  of  John  Smith.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  of  America  is  likewise  a 
single  name. 

That  phrasing  and  centering  are  variable  should  not 
lead  one  to  assume  that  they  may  be  left  to  chance,  habit, 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  429 

rhythm,  or  the  necessities  of  breathing.  It  is  important 
that  the  speaker  think  in  the  true  units  so  that  he  may 
convey  the  true  units  to  his  audience.  Confused  center- 
ing means  confused  thinking  on  the  part  of  the  speaker, 
which  will  cause  confused  expression  and,  therefore,  con- 
fused understanding  on  the  part  of  the  hearer. 

The  youth  who  declaimed:  "My  name  is  Norval  on  the  Gram- 
pian Hills, — my  father  feeds  his  flock  a  frugal  swain,"  did  not 
mean  to  imply  that  his  name  was  different  in  the  Lowlands,  and 
had  only  his  slovenly  thinking  to  blame  when  some  of  his  puzzled 
mates  thought  he  said  his  father  fed  a  flock  of  frugal  swine.  The 
banquet  orator  who  proposed  the  toast,  "Woman  without  her  man 
— would  be  a  savage!"  did  not  make  a  hit  with  the  ladies  in  the 
balcony ;  and  there  was  a  just  grievance  when  a  preacher  in  a  fish- 
ing town  changed  the  written  request  sent  up  by  a  good  wife,  "A 
man  going  to  sea,  his  wife  requests  the  prayers  of  the  church," 
into,  "A  man  going  to  see  his  wife — requests  the  prayers  of  the 
church."  The  importance  of  thinking  in  the  true  units  may  be 
seen  in  attempting  to  unravel  this:  "That  that  is  is  that  that  is 
not  is  not." 

One  may  not  often  fall  into  as  amusing  results  as  some 
of  those  mentioned  above,  but  centering  as  absurd  in  fact 
is  common  enough.  And  strangely  enough,  bad  center- 
ing is  nearly  as  common  in  delivering  the  speaker's  own 
matter  as  when  interpreting  another's.  Whenever  the 
attention  slips  from  content  and  relations  are  forgotten, 
the  voice  may  run  units  together,  or  halt  and  break  up 
units,  and  so  throw  upon  the  hearer  the  burden  of  analy- 
sis or  perplex  him  utterly.  But  when  the  mind  alertly 
notes  each  point,  the  voice  will  guide  the  hearer's  atten- 
tion aright  and  listening  will  be  easy.  ^ 

How  much  centering.  We  should  center,  not  merely 
upon  the  major  ideas  of  a  sentence  or  paragraph,  but  also 
upon  each  detail  which  is  necessary  for  a  true  grasp  of 
the  thought,  passing  over  those  which  serve  their  pur- 
pose while  remaining  in  the    fringe  of  consciousness." 


430 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Another  way  to  put  it  is,  that  we  should  focus  upon 
each  part  of  the  thought  we  wish  the  minds  of  our  hear- 
ers momentarily  to  dwell  upon.  How  long  attention  will 
dwell  upon  each  part  of  the  thought  depends  upon  its 
importance  in  the  speaker's  mind.  The  time  may  vary 
from  a  hardly  appreciable  instant  to  several  seconds. 

This  leads  us  to  consider  certain  common  faults. 
First,  is  the  fault  of  centering  too  infrequently, — at- 
tempting to  take  and  give  the  thought  in  too  large  units. 
This  is  the  fault  of  one  whose  mind  skims  over  the  sur- 
face, taking  only  a  birdVeye  view.  The  result  is  that 
neither  speaker  nor  hearer  is  able  to  grasp  the  thought 
definitely,  or  gain  more  than  a  general  understanding. 
/  But  the  more  serious  fault,  akin  to  this,  is  failure  to 
/  \  center  long  enough  and  firmly  enough  upon  each  phrase. 
The  chief  reason  a  beginner  usually  speaks  too  fast  is 
that  he  does  not  think  enough  as  he  goes.  This  results 
in  vagueness  of  delivery  and  indistinctness  of  impression 
upon  the  hearer.  He  may  have  understood  clearly  in 
preparation;  he  may  have  a  bare  understanding  as  he 
speaks ;  but  he  does  not  grasp  the  thought  in  its  fullness. 
His  mind  should  receive  a  distinct  impression  from  each 
phrase.  And  more  than  that,  the  audience  must  have 
time  to  think.  There  is  need,  therefore,  for  the  delibera- 
tion which  is  characteristic  of  most  experienced  speak- 
ers. There  is  little  good  in  just  trying  to  go  slow;  the 
effort  often  results  in  yet  greater  rapidity.  The  speaker 
who  talks  too  rapidly  should  impress  upon  himself  the 
importance  of  gaining  distinct  impressions,  full  realiza- 
tion of  the  content  of  his  words,  and  of  giving  his  audi- 
ence time  to  think.  He  should  fix  firmly  in  mind  the 
truth  that  his  audience  cannot  move  as  rapidly  as  he 
can.  They  are  not  so  familiar  with  his  line  of  thought. 
If  they  are  to  see  the  pictures  suggested,  compare  his 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  4 

statements  with  their  eij:perience,  in  a  word,  think  ba 
to  him,  they  must  have  time.  In  particular  he  should 
impress  upon  his  mind  the  truth  that  he  fails  unless  he 
provokes  reaction  in  his  hearers,  and  causes  them  to  re- 
late his  words  to  their  knowledge,  beliefs  and  experience. 
In  brief,  the  too  rapid  speaker  should  think  more,  and 
give  his  hearers  time  to  think  more. 

It  will  be  found  very  helpful  for  one  practising  de- 
livery to  insert  words  and  phrases  which,  while  they  are 
not  necessary  to  an  expression  of  the  thought  when  de- 
livery is  adequate,  will  serve  to  accentuate  the  relations 
both  of  idea  to  idea  and  of  the  ideas  to  the  audience. 
The  use  of  such  phrases  sharpens  thinking  and  causes 
the  speaker  to  take  time  enough.  After  practising  with 
these  extra  words  inserted  aloud,  one  may  then  practise 
the  same  passage  with  them  inserted  mentally  only.  He 
may  then  practise  the  same  passage  without  the  effort 
to  think  in  particular  words,  but  making  sure  that  he 
does  realize  fully  the  relations  they  accentuated.  It  will 
be  found  that  this  practice  will  improve  expression,  not 
only  in  respect  to  rate,  but  in  many  other  ways. 

We  may  illustrate  the  foregoing  from  the  selection  Who  is  to 
Blame?  Before  Sentence  3,  one  may  throw  in,  Voting  is  neces- 
sary, but — " ;  and  after  the  same  sentence,  *'Does  n't  your  experi- 
ence confirm  that?"  Beginning  with  the  Sentence  11,  we  make 
the  passage  read:  "And  within  a  few  years,  [I  am  not  talking 
theory,  but  present-day  facts],  as  a  result  of  this  indifference  to 
the  details  of  public  duty,  the  most  powerful  politician  in  the 
Empire  State  of  the  Union  [in  the  state  of  the  greatest  wealth, 
population,  and  political  influence]  was  [a  man  who  might  justly 
be  called]  Jonathan  Wild  the  Great,  the  captain  of  a  band  of 
plunderers.  I  know  it  is  said  [the  cheap  excuse  is  common]  that 
the  knaves  have  taken  the  honest  man  in  a  net,  and  have  contrived 
machinery  which  will  inevitably  grind  only  the  grist  of  rascals. 
The  answer  is  [and  it  is  a  complete  answer,  fact  against  theory ; 
you  cannot  get  away  from  it],  that  when  honest  men  did  once 
"What  they  ought  to  do  always,  the  thieves  were  netted  and  their 


432  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

machine  was  broken.  To  say  [as  you  do]  that  in  this  country  thej 
rogues  must  rule,  is  [not  only]  to  defy  history  [as  I  have  just] 
shown  you,  but  what  is  vastly  more  serious,  it  is]  to  despair  of! 
the  republic.  [Did  you  realize  that?]"  This  method  of  practice 
will  be  further  illustrated  below  when  we  speak  more  specifically 
of  relations. 

We  must  now  consider  faults  of  centering  and  phras- 
ing which  are  quite  the  opposite  of  those  discussed: 
focusing  too  frequently  and  prolonging  attention  un- 
duly upon  minor  ideas.  It  is  of  high  importance  to  un- 
derstand the  significance  of  every  word  and  phrase,  but 
not  every  idea  should  come  into  the  focus  of  attention 
during  delivery.  They  serve  their  purpose  while  remain- 
ing in  the  background,  or  in  the  fringe  of  consciousness. 
Just  as  some  things  *'go  without  saying,"  so  some  go 
with  saying,  and  without  special  attention.  If  attention 
is  directed  to  everything,  then  nothing  stands  out,  and 
unity  of  delivery  will  be  lacking.  The  sentences  will,  as 
it  were,  fall  into  bits.  The  audience  will  be  wearied, 
because  each  insignificant  point  will  be  forced  upon  its 
attention,  and  because  of  lack  of  movement  in  the  deliv- 
ery. Take  as  an  example:  About  one-third — of  our 
country — was  originally  covered — with  the  most  mag- 
nificent forests."  One  cannot  really  think  about  one- 
third"  alone.  About  one-third  of  our  country"  is  the 
true  unit.  The  rest  is  a  single  picture  and  can  be  readily 
grasped  at  one  instant. 

As  we  have  already  seen  in  considering  how  the  phras- 
"  ing  of  a  sentence  may  vary,  the  number  of  centers  in  a 
sentence  depends  upon  the  context  and  the  situation  to 
a  great  extent.  The  more  analytic  the  mood  and  the 
more  difficult  and  unfamiliar  the  thought,  the  more  nu- 
merous the  centers. 

The  effect  upon  delivery  of  unduly  prolonging  atten- 
tion upon  ideas  that  do  deserve  direct  notice^  but  are  yet 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  433 


strictly  subordinate,  is  much  the  same  as  focusing  upon 
ideas  that  should  be  left  entirely  in  the  background. 
This  is  well  illustrated  by  giving  too  much  attention  to 
the  three  parts  of  control  the  primary  meeting,  and 
manage  the  convention,  and  dictate  the  nomination,  * '  in 
Sentence  15  of  the  selection,  Who  is  to  Blame.  If  in 
the  sentence,  ^^And  Paul  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and 
began  to  defend  himself, ' '  the  first  clause  receives  much 
attention,  it  will  seem  a  needless  detail ;  but  if  it  receives 
a  bare  glance  and  is  strictly  subordinated  to  the  second 
clause,  it  will  serve  its  purpose  of  adding  a  striking  de- 
tail to  the  picture. 

There  is  also  to  be  noted  a  sort  of  false  centering  which 
occurs  at  such  words  as  but,  and,  that,  which,  are,  and 
other  connective  and  introductory  words,  which  should 
ordinarily  blend  with  what  follows.  There  are  times 
when  attention  should  dwell  upon  the  relations  which 
these  words  represent,  but  such  times  are  rare.  This 
false  centering  is  sometimes  due  to  conventional  reading 
habits,  or  to  an  erroneous  belief  that  we  should  '^mind 
our  pauses, ' '  meaning  the  punctuation.  But  punctation 
has  nothing  to  do  with  delivery.  A  punctuation  mark 
may  or  may  not  coincide  with  the  end  of  a  phrase ;  as  in, 
* '  Oh,  yes,  I  am  young,  I  know ;  but  youth,  Sir,  is  not  my 
only  crime."  False  phrasing  most  often  arises  from 
wandering  attention  or  inability  to  think  what  comes 
next.  Instead  of  pausing  till  he  has  a  grip  on  his  next 
clause,  the  speaker  begins,  ^^But — "  and  then,  like  the 
parson  in  **The  One-Hoss  Shay,''  stops  perplexed  at 
what  the — Moses — is  coming  next!" 

It  should  be  noted  that  phrases  are  not  alwaj^s  followed  by 
pauses,  being  indicated,  also,  as  already  said,  by  other  elements, 
such  as  rate,  pitch,  and  tone  color ;  and  pause  for  emphasis  may 
fall  in  the  midst  of  a  phrase.    For  example,  in  the  first  sentence 


434 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


of  the  second  paragraph  of  the  Curtis  selection,  the  three  phrases 
*'control  the  primaries  and  manage  the  conventions  and  dictate  the 
nominations,"  might  well  be  given  without  pause.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  ** Woman !  without  her,  man  would  be  a  savage,"  a  speaker 
might  pause  before  *'a  savage,"  although  it  is  not  a  phrase.  In 
the  second  sentence  of  the  selection  referred  to,  there  might  be  a 
pause  after  ^^essentially"  if  the  speaker's  mind  were  strongly 
caught  by  that  thought ;  yet  undoubtedly  the  words  "of  his  political 
duty"  belong  in  the  phrase  with  the  preceding  words,  for  as  merely 
echoing  **public  duty"  they  hold  no  meaning  upon  which  the  mind 
should  rest.  It  should  be  noted  also  from  the  last  example,  that 
phrases  do  not  necessarily  end  with  important  words. 

On  the  whole,  the  fault  of  centering  too  little  is  more 
common  than  of  centering  too  much.  What  is  needed 
is  complete  understanding  of  each  idea,  large  and  small ; 
but  with  this  must  go  an  appreciation  of  the  relative  im- 
portance of  each  in  the  speech.  This  involves,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  keen  realization  of  the  relations  of  idea  to 
idea.  With  such  a  realization,  one  is  in  a  fair  way  to 
speak  with  correct  emphasis,  pitch,  rate,  tone  color,  and 
in  particular,  with  proper  inflection. 

Relations  of  ideas.  Some  are  principal  ideas,  some 
subordinate;  some  are  related  as  cause  and  effect;  some 
are  repetition  or  echo,  some  new  thoughts;  some  are 
contrasted  with  others,  some  are  concessive  rather  than 
in  support  of  the  main  thought,  and  so  on  through  all 
possible  relations  of  ideas  to  each  other  and  to  the  cen- 
tral them^i. 

Distinguish  principal  and  subordinate  ideas.  Much 
poor  work,  showing  itself  peculiarly  in  bad  centering  and 
consequent  false  emphasis,  is  due  to  faihire  to  discrim- 
inate values.  Attention  should  vary  with  degree  of  im- 
portance. This  does  riot  mean  the  absolute  value  of  an 
idea,  but  its  value  in  its  place  with  reference  to  the  larger 
thought  one  is  expressing.  The  principle  of  this  para- 
graph  has  already  been  illustrated  with  the  sentence 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  435 


beginning,  ''If  ignorance,  corruption,  etc.,"  and  will  be- 
come clearer  from  what  follows. 

Echo  and  new  idea.  The  word  new  here  has  no  refer- 
ence to  novelty  or  originality,  but  refers  to  an  idea  that 
has  not  appeared  before  in  the  particular  discussion. 
Echq^  is  the  recurrence  of  an  idea  already  expressed. 
The  echo  may  or  may  not  be  in  the  same  words  as  the 
part  referred  to.  It  most  frequently  refers  to  the  im- 
mediately preceding,  but  may  refer  to  any  preceding 
part.  If  you  will  turn  to  the  Curtis  selection  you  will 
I  note  that  vote  in  the  second  sentence  echoes  voting  in  the 
I  first  and  political  duty  echoes  public  duty,  and  that  very 
I  heart  echoes  essentially  in  the  same  sentence.  Every 
j  sentence  in  this  selection,  after  the  first,  contains  one  or 
more  echoes.  They  are  especially  numerous  in  the  last 
part  of  the  last  sentence.  Almost  any  sentence  in  a 
speech  may  be  considered  a  link  in  a  chain,  reaching  both 
forward  and  backward.  It  is  this  interlinking  which 
gives  firmness  of  structure,  and  where  it  is  absent  the 
style  is  abrupt  and  liable  to  be  disjointed.  When  the 
echoes  are  not  clearly  distinguished,  delivery  will  also 
be  disjointed  and  lacking  in  coherence.  They  have  been: 
called  the  ''connective  tissue"  of  language. 

A  fine  example  of  coherence  through  echo  is  found  in  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  Address  (see  Index).  Analyze  for  new  idea  and  echo 
the  first  four  sentences.  Note  in  particular  how  might  live  echoes 
endure.  Then  turn  to  the  last  sentence  of  the  speech  and  note  the 
echoes  from  the  opening  sentences,  and  see  how  the  last  phrase, 
usually  read  with  flat  dullness,  is  really  charged  with  meaning  by 
the  echo  of  endure  by  shall  not  perish.  As  an  example  of  an  im- 
portant echo,  take  the  words  has  failed  at  the  end  of  the  second 
sentence  of  the  second  paragraph  of  the  Curtis  selection.  Deter- 
mine what  they  echo.  This  hard  sentence,  and  indeed  the  whole 
paragraph,  is  unintelligible  unless  this  echo  is  clearly  recognized. 
There  are  in  any  composition  numerous  echoes,  recognition  of 
which,  although  they  may  be  less  important  than  some  of  those 


436 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


referred  to,  is  necessary  for  informing  the  voice  with  the  true 
meaning. 

That  the  new  idea  must  be  recognized  is  too  obvious 
for  illustration.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  it  is  the  new 
idea  which  for  the  moment  is  of  chief  importance;  it  is 
the  one  now  to  be  impressed.  The  echo,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  already  in  mind  and  is  often  given  chiefly  for 
the  purpose  of  keeping  relations  clear.  Nevertheless,  it 
may  be,  in  a  given  case,  the  most  important  part  of  a 
sentence,  as  in  the  case  of  repetition  for  emphasis. 

In  the  sentence,  "For  prosperous  labor,  industry,  and  commerce, 
three  conditions  are  necessary  :  first,  liberty ;  second,  liberty  ;  third, 
liberty,"  the  third  liberty,  though  bearing  the  same  meaning  as  the 
first,  is  much  more  significant.  The  echoes,  noted  above,  from  the 
Gettysburg  Address,  might  live  and  shall  not  perish,  are  certainly 
large  v^ith  meaning. 

A  new  idea  is  not  necessarily  important,  though  it 
usually  should  have  some  attention.  When  Lincoln  said, 
*^Now  we  are  in  a  great  civil  war,"  etc.,  the  fact  of  war 
was  too  obvious  to  need  much  attention,  though  a  ^^new 
idea,"  but  the  new  idea  of  testing  free  government  was 
a  major  point.  So  while  this  method  of  analysis  is  an 
aid  in  our  study,  neither  it  nor  any  other  method  can 
relieve  us  from  the  use  of  our  brains. 

The  term  echo  is  hardly  adequate,  though  the  one  ordi- 
narily used.  Many  a  phrase  which  contains  a  back  ref- 
erence, is  really  an  amplification,  or  a  restatement  with 
so  much  added  meaning  and  force  that  the  feeling  of 
reference  is  not  prominent,  although  present.  To  echoes 
should  be  added  restatements  and  amplifications.  And 
there  are  also  instances  of  restatements  wTiere  the  back 
reference  is  entirely  lost.  Echo  or  not  echo  is  a  question 
of  fact ;  that  is,  the  question  is  not,  might  not  a  word  or 
clause  refer  back,  but  does  it? 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  437 


Here,  again,  we  may  profitably  refer  to  the  practice  of 
putting  in  additional  phrases.  This  practice  is  espe- 
cially helpful  in  accentuating  echoes,  or  contrasts,  which 
may  be  at  once  echoes  and  new  ideas.  For  example, 
many  in  speaking  the  words  absolute  ignorance  of  the 
candidates,''  in  the  seventh  sentence  of  the  Curtis  selec- 
tion, will  fail  to  realize  and  indicate  the  fact  that  ^^can- 
didates" echoes  whoever  was  nominated  for  office," 
and  that  ignorance"  expresses  a  sharp  contrast  with 
''was  known  to  his  neighbors."  So  many  ideas  inter- 
vene that  the  relations  are  lost  sight  of.  Now,  if  the 
student  will  practise  Sentence  7  this  way, — ''But  in  the 
\ocal  elections  of  the  great  cities  of  to-day,  elections  that 
control  taxation  and  expenditure  (instead  of  having  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  candidates),  the  mass  of  the  voters 
vote  in  absolute  ignorance  of  the  candidates," — ^he  will 
be  pretty  sure  to  speak  the  final  words  in  a  way  which 
reveals  both  the  contrast  and  the  echo.  But  whether 
words  are  inserted  or  not,  it  is  essential  that  one  speak 
with  keen  realization  of  relations,  taking  time  to  recog- 
nize them. 

Is  the  thought  forward  looking?  Most  of  the  thought 
relations  need  no  discussion  here,  but  there  is  one  other 
that  should  be  stressed  because  of  its  bearing  upon  ^ 
common  fault.  The  fault  is  that  of  dropping  the  inflee- 
tion  at  nearly  every  pause,  giving  a  sort  of  limping  ef=v 
feet.  Now,  speaking  generally,  a  downward  inflection" 
is  our  instinctive  way  of  indicating  a  degree  of  com- 
pleteness in  the  thought;  while  an  upward  inflection  in- 
dicates that  the  mind  is  looking  forward  rather  than  rest- 
ing upon  what  is  at  the  instant  being  said.  To  illustrate, 
in  speaking  the  sentence,  ''Patriotism,  when  it  rises  to 
the  heroic  standard,  is  a  positive  love  of  country ;  and  it 
will  do  all  and  sacrifice  all  for  its  object,"  the  voice 


438 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


would  naturally  rise  at  any  pause  other  than  those  at 
country  and  object.  The  fault  referred  to  is  evidently 
that  of  one  who  fails  to  keep  alert  to  the  relations  of  his 
ideas,  and  especially  to  the  forward  relations.  To  him 
every  stop  is  a  terminal.  The  remedy  seems  to  be  to 
practise  much  upon  sentences  which  demand  strongly  the 
look  ahead ;  such  as  the  following : 

"On  the  banks  of  the  Indus;  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the 
Euphrates;  under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  Pyramids  and  along 
the  borders  of  the  Nile ;  in  frigid  Russia,  and  in  sunny  Greece ; 
under  the  soft  skies  of  Italy  and  of  Spain ;  along  the  slopes  where 
the  grapes  are  gathered  and  the  herds  are  pastured  in  beautiful 
France ;  behind  the  dykes  of  Holland ;  over  the  plains  and  amid 
the  forests  of  Germany ;  far  north  in  the  Scandinavian  retreats, 
where  muscle  is  trained  by  hardship,  and  storm  nurtures  the  cour- 
age to  do  and  dare ;  within  the  sea-girt  isle,  whose  scepter  of 
authority  has  been  wielded  by  an  Alfred,  by  a  William  the  Con- 
queror, by  an  Elizabeth,  and  by  a  Victoria ;  up  in  the  Highlands 
where  Bruce  and  VV^allace  led  their  clans,  and  Burns  sang  songs  as 
enduring  as  Homer's,  and  Scott  waved  his  wizard  wand ;  in  Ire- 
land, where  the  echoes  of  the  voice  of  O'Connell  still  linger  in  the 
air,  persuasive,  potential,  and  the  name  of  Robert  Emmet  stirs 
like  a  bugle  call ;  here  in  this  broad  land  of  America ; — everywhere, 
of  whatever  race  or  clime,  man  feels  himself  to  be  hindered, 
cramped,  thwarted,  cruelly  wronged,  without  liberty." 

''The  hills, 

Rock-ribbed,  and  ancient  as  the  sun ;  the  vales 

Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between ; 

The  venerable  woods;  rivers  that  move 

In  majesty ;  and  the  complaining  brooks 

That  make  the  meadows  green ;  and,  poured  round  all, 

Old  Ocean's  gray  and  melancholy  waste, — 

Are  but  the  solemn  decorations  all 

Of  the  great  tomb  of  man." 

Sometimes  the  fault  has  grown  into  a  habit  so  strong 
that  it  will  not  yield  to  mental  treatment"  alone;  and 
then  the  inflections  should  be  drilled  up  arbitrarily,  till 
the  ear  grows  to  demand  them. 

What  is  said  of  the  treatment  of  this  fault  may  be  applied,  in 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  439 


principle,  to  the  treatment  of  any  other  delivery  faults  that  persist 
very  long  after  good  mental  action  on  the  platform  has  been 
attained. 

There  is  the  correlative  fault  of  rarely  letting  the  voice 
fall,  even  at  the  end  of  sentences.  Such  delivery,  an 
approach  to  intoning,  lacks  positiveness  and  directness. 
It  is  due  to  taking  too  cursory  a  view,  failing  to  center 
definitely  enough.  But  it  is  sometimes  an  affectation. 
It  is  common  among  stump  speakers.  The  practice  of 
sustaining  all  inflections,  though  employed  by  some 
eminent  speakers,  and  sometimes  defended  as  a  means 
of  making  the  voice  carry  over  great  audiences,  is,  I 
believe,  rarely  justified  and  it  quickly  establishes  a  bad 
habit.    It  seems  to  be  going  out  of  vogue. 

These  suggestions  are  practicable.  At  this  stage  stu- 
dents have  said,  ''How  is  it  possible  to  attend  to  so 
many  things  at  once,  especially  when  one  is  addressing 
an  audience  ? ' '  The  question  is  natural,  but  rests  upon 
a  misunderstanding.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  should 
be  saying  to  yourself.  This  is  the  main  idea.  This  is  an 
echo  of  such  and  such  a  passage.  That  would  be  but 
little  better  than  to  be  saying,  This  word  is  emphatic, 
and,  I  must  pause  here.  But  I  do  mean  that  you  are  to 
be  sensible  of  values  and  relations  as  you  speak.  The 
better  your  preparation  and  grasp,  the  easier  your  task. 
For  a  beginner  to  control  his  mind  sufficiently  may  not 
be  easy,  but  for  this  control  he  must  work  and  practise. 
But  after  all,  what  is  urged  upon  you  must  be  practic- 
able, for  it  is  only  what  we  do  in  a  wide-awake  conversa- 
tion. We  are  striving  only  to  reproduce  and  accentuate 
upon  the  platform  the  mental  activities  of  conversation. 

Pause.  The  grand  secret  of  success  in  carrying  on  all 
the-complex  process  is  pause.  The  rapid  turning  of  at- 
^ntion  from  the  particular  idea  to  its  relations  and  to 


440  •         PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


the  audience,  all  becomes  possible  when  we  take  time. 
;  There  is  hardly  a  beginner  who  does  not  need  this  advice : 
'  Train  yourself  strictly  to  the  habit  of  pausing  until  the 
\  next  thought  and  its  relations  are  clearly  grasped  hy 
/  your  mind,  before  giving  it  to  your  audience.    And  do 
1.-  tf6t  forget  that  that  requirement  is  not  met  by  grasping 
the  bare  intellectual  content  of  your  words.    You  must 
recognize  the  full  significance  of  the  thought,  and  that 
includes  the  emotional  content  also.    Eemember  also  that 
while  the  speaker  needs  time  to  think  what  is  to  be  said, 
the  audience  needs  time  to  think  of  what  has  been  said. 
' '  Speech  is  silvern ;  silence  is  golden, ' '  says  the  proverb, 
and  silence  is  never  more  golden  than  in  the  midst  of 
speech. 

Do  not  fear  your  pauses  will  be  too  long.  What  may 
seem  to  a  beginner  a  long  wait  will  really  be  very  short. 
When  your  mind  is  doing  its  proper  work  in  your  pauses, 
they  will  not  seem  long.  Do  not  fear  that  drawling  will 
result  from  deliberate  pausing.  When  it  is  not  inten- 
tional, drawling  is  the  sign  of  a  listless,  or  of  a  too  intro- 
spective state  of  mind,  and  not  the  expression  of  alert 
thinking. 

Do  not  confuse  pause  with  hesitation.  We  pause  to 
think;  we  hesitate  because  we  cannot  think.  Nothing 
is  more  tiresome  to  an  audience  than  a  hesitating,  halting 
delivery.  It  seems  to  be  due  chiefly  to  beginning  a 
clause  without  a  firm  forward-looking  grasp  of  it. 

Hesitation  is  especially  annoying  when  the  gaps  are  filled  with 
urs  and  iihs.  Grunting  is  no  part  of  thinking.  Heed  the  plea  of 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes : 

"And  when  you  stick  on  conversations  burrs, 
Don't  strew  your  pathway  with  those  dreadful  wrs." 

Pause  gives  opportunity  for  breathing,  but  a  speaker 
should  never  stop  simply  to  breathe.    That  is  to  let 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  441 


physical  necessities  tyrannize  over  mental  processes.  So 
far  as  consciousness  is  concerned,  pause  should  be  only 
an  opportunity  to  think.  Still,  breathing  is  an  impor- 
tant matter.  A  well  controlled,  sufficient  supply  of 
breath  is  necessary  to  a  well  supported  tone  and  helps  ^ 
to  steady  the  nerves.  A  speaker  should  cultivate  the 
habit  of  utilizing  nearly  every  pause  to  take  breath.  The 
opportunities  are  always  sufficient,  without  interfering 
with  the  thought  movement. 

Summarizing  will  be  found  very  helpful;  first,  because 
to  make  a  good  summary  one  must  have  the  clearest  un- 
derstanding ;  and,  secondly,  because  if  you  put  into  youry 
summary  just  the  right  turn  of  the  thought,  the  real; 
point  of  view  and  the  true  emphasis,  and  fix  this  in 
your  mind  before  you  rise  to  speak,  it  will  aid  you 
greatly  in  giving  to  each  part  its  due  importance  and  in 
relating  each  to  the  whole.  A  summary  is  like  a  bird's- 
eye  view:  by  omitting  details  it  makes  clearer  the  rela- 
tions of  parts.  Analysis  is  necessary  in  order  to  distin- 
guish relations,  but  after  analysis  must  come  synthesis. 
The  practice  of  summarizing  will  help  in  gaining  quali- 
ties of  delivery  not  at  all  common :  coherence  and  struc- 
tural emphasis ;  which  will  in  turn  give  the  hearer  unity 
of  impression.  I  use  the  terin  structural  emphasis  be- 
cause, emphasis  is  too  commonly  thought  of  as  concerned 
with  the  sentence  only.  Many  speakers  who  deliver  in- 
dividual sentences  well,  fail  in  giving  due  value  to  each 
part  as  related  to  the  whole.  Summarize  your  speech, 
then,  as  a  whole,  and  summarize  each  paragraph.  Make 
these  as  brief  and  clear-cut  as  you  can,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  easily  carried  in  mind.  If  a  short  speech  can- 
not be  summarized  in  one  rather  brief  sentence,  look 
upon  that  fact  as  a  danger  signal;  there  is  probably  a 
lack  of  unity  or  of  clearness  in  your  thought. 


442 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  thought  chain.  Another  excellent  practice  for 
training  the  thinking  of  a  young  speaker  is,  when  once 
the  details  of  a  speech  have  been  worked  out,  to  go,  si- 
lently at  first,  over  the  thought  chain  or  thought  move- 
ment, time  after  time,  until  he  has  worn  such  a  groove 
in  his  mind  that  he  can,  without  reference  to  notes  and 
without  mental  wandering,  proceed  through  his  entire 
speech  step  by  step,  individualizing  each  point  and  seeing 
each  in  its  proper  relations.  A  practical  aid  is  mentally 
to  throw  into  the  transitions  such  phrases  as,  to  be  sure, 
granted,  for  example,  to  take  up  another  point,  so  true 
is  this,  as  was  said  before,  or  such  additions  as  have  been 
suggested  above.  These  accentuate  the  relations,  and 
hence  prompt  more  definite  expression.  They  also  aid 
the  memory,  for  trouble  in  remembering  is  due  usually 
to  weak  transition. 

Monotony  of  delivery  is  a  fault  so  common  that  it  is 
worth  while  to  point  out  here  that  monotony  is  due 
fundamentally  to  failure  in  discrimination, — to  drifting; 
and  that  it  can  hardly  exist  where  the  true  value  and 
character  of  each  idea  is  recognized  and  relations  are 
clearly  discerned;  provided  there  be  emotional  as  well 
as  intellectual  discrimination. 

How  to  work.  The  methods  set  forth  in  this  chapter 
can  be  most  advantageously  practised  by  the  beginner 
with  a  written  speech  or  a  selection.  But  they  are,  in 
part,  quite  as  applicable  to  an  extemporaneous  speech; 
that  is  a  speech  prepared  and  outlined,  but  not  fixed  in 
phraseology.  Let  there  be  the  most  complete  under- 
standing of  each  detail  and  of  the  relation  of  idea  to 
idea,  and  then  let  there  be  speaking,  with  deliberate,  com- 
plete thinking.  Do  not  try  to  ''make  a  speech,"  but  only 
to  command  the  thought  and  to  express  it;  first  as  to 


FURTHER  STUDY  OF  DELIVERY  413 


one  person  (to  an  actual  person  if  you  have  a  patient 
friend),  and  then  to  a  larger  and  larger  number. 

Do  not  use  these  methods  mechanically.  Since  the 
teachings  of  this  chapter  can  be  easily  translated  into 
mechanical  methods,  it  may  be  best  to  restate  the  differ- 
ence between  such  methods  and  the  methods  intended. 
Take  the  matter  of  emphasis  as  typical:  One  working 
by  the  mechanical  method  decides  that  a  given  word  is 
emphatic ;  say,  to-night  in  the  sentence,  ^ '  Are  you  going 
down  town  to-night  V  He  then  consciously  stresses  that 
word.  It  is  an  act  not  very  unlike  that  of  the  pianist  in 
pressing  a  pedal ;  the  more  practised  he  is,  of  course,  the 
less  attention  the  act  requires.  One  working  by  our 
method,  holds  in  mind  the  meaning  he  wishes  to  convey, 
and  trusts  the  conception  to  prompt  the  right  emphasis, 
as  in  conversation.  If  he  finds  difficult}'^  in  securing  the 
right  expression,  he  accentuates  his  thinking,  perhaps 
saying  to  himself,  ' '  The  question  is  between  to-night  and 
to-morrow  night."  He  seeks  right  expression  from  con^ 
centrated  attention  rather  than  by  consciously  applied 
stress.  And  if  on  rare  occasions  he  finds  the  mechanical 
method  helpful,  he  looks  upon  it  rather  as  a  last  resort 
than  as  sound  practice;  for  the  mechanical  method  in- 
serts a  process,  unknown  to  normal  expression,  between 
the  mental  action  and  the  voice. 

The  elements  of  expression.  To  make  expression 
clearer  and  stronger,  accentuate  mental  processes  which 
are  the  natural  cause  of  expression.  Proper  pausing  and 
phrasing  will  spring  from  recognition  of  the  successive 
thought  units ;  and  the  length  of  pause  and  rate  of  utter- 
ance will  be  regulated  by  the  relative  values  which  the 
mind  assigns  to  each  step.  From  centering  will  spring 
emphasis,  which  will  be  due  emphasis,  if  the  relation  of 


444 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


part  to  part  is  clearly  in  mind.  Kecognition  of  relations 
will  prompt  true  inflections. 

Change  of  pitch  arises  from  discrimination  of  ideas 
and  values;  climax  from  a  sense  of  the  development  of 
the  thought  and  feeling ;  and  change  of  tone  color  from 
change  of  attitude,  as  from  the  explanatory  to  the  argu- 
mentative mood.  Where  these  elements  of  expression 
exist,  monotony  is  impossible.  It  should  be  understood 
that  this  analysis  is  but  a  rough  one ;  the  various  elements 
may  combine  in  countless  ways.  Expression  is  too  com- 
plex a  matter  for  brief  analysis;  if,  indeed,  complete 
analysis  be  possible. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  STUDY  AND  DELIVERY  OF  SELECTIONS 

The  practice  of  delivering  selections,  usually  called 
declamations,  from  the  works  of  others,  is  an  ancient 
method  of  learning  to  speak  in  public;  and  while  too 
much  attention  has  at  times  been  paid  to  it,  the  practice, 
nevertheless,  is  valuable.  I  believe  it  best  for  the  student 
to  begin  his  work  with  original  speeches,  since  with  his 
own  ideas,  put  in  his  own  words  and  said  in  his  own  way, 
he  is  less  likely  to  feel  that  he  is  making  an  exhibition 
and  more  likely  to  catch  the  idea  that  public  speaking  is 
real  communication.  Let  him  begin  very  close  to  actual 
conversation  and  then  build  up  his  delivery  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  platform. 

Value  of  the  practice.  But  as  soon  as  the  beginner  has 
realized  in  a  measure  the  nature  of  public  delivery,  there 
are  certain  benefits  which  he  can  secure  from  work  on 
selections.  In  the  first  place,  most  beginners  are  accus- 
tomed to  express  but  a  limited  range  of  ideas,  and  often 
they  are  unwilling  to  express  these  freely.  Given  a  good 
selection,  they  will  often  speak  with  more  confidence  and 
freedom,  even  with  more  earnestness,  than  with  their  own 
matter;  provided,  there  is  thorough  assimilation.  Sec- 
ondly, beginners,  before  they  learn  how  to  work  effec- 
tively, frequently  have,  or  think  they  have,  extremely 
little  to  say;  and  this  little  they  are  unable  to  put  into 
language  that  will  ''speak."  In  short,  they  may  fail  to 
prepare  speeches  that  permit  good  delivery.    A  good 

445 


446 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


selection  furnishes  a  speech  that  will  speak ;  and  from  it 
the  student  may  catch  something  of  the  spirit  and  style 
of  good  speeches.  He  receives  the  influence  of  good 
style  in  the  best  way,  not  from  conscious  imitation,  but 
by  coming  to  feel  it  through  intimate  acquaintance. 

Again,  the  ability  to  master  and  deliver  effectively  the 
words  of  another  is  in  itself  worth  while.  A  speaker  fre- 
quently wishes  to  read  a  passage  or  to  quote  it  from  mem- 
ory. At  such  times  the  audience  rarely  listens  well ;  but 
good  reading  should  be  as  direct  in  tone  and  as  easy  to 
listen  to  as  other  delivery.  "We  take  up  selections  for  the 
sake  of  their  effect  upon  public  speaking;  but  the  im- 
provement in  oral  reading  is  a  valuable  ^  ^  by-product. " 
Professor  Corson  has  told  us  that  oral  reading  is  one  of 
the  best  methods  of  studying  literature,^  and  also  that  it 
has  great  cultural  value.  Oral  interpretation  has  cul- 
tural value  because  it  is  no  child 's  play  really  to  master  a 
good  piece  of  literature,  but  a  work  worthy  the  best  pow- 
ers of  any  student  I  have  yet  met.  In  these  days  of  lec- 
tures and  reports  there  is  rather  little  training  in  close 
interpretation  and  little  ability  to  reproduce  faithfully 
the  contents  of  a  printed  page.  Many  a  student,  intro- 
duced to  the  work  of  this  chapter,  has  at  first  revolted 
and  later  greatly  valued  a  training  which  has  helped  him 
in  all  his  reading,  silent  as  well  as  oral.  Many  educators 
value,  also,  the  training  in  memorizing,  holding  that  to- 
day there  is  too  little  memorizing  as  formerly  there  was 
too  much.  Finally  the  instructor  in  speaking  values 
this  work  because  it  gives  him  the  best  opportunity  for 
effectual  drill.  It  is  true  that  many  of  the  benefits  of 
work  with  selections  can  be  obtained  with  original 
speeches  alone,  but  my  experience  is  that,  after  the  course 
is  well  started,  the  best  method  is  to  alternate  the  two 

1  Voice  and  Spiritual  Education. 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  447 


kinds  of  speeches,  so  that  each  kind  of  work  may  supple- 
ment the  other.  There  are  well-known  evils  which  may 
arise  in  work  on  selections,  which  I  shall  try  to  guard 
against  in  the  following  suggestions. 

Character  of  the  work  proposed.    I  substitute  the  word 
selection  for  declamation  because  the  work  here  proposed 
departs  considerably  from  the  usual  practice  of  declama- 
tion.   I  do  not  advise  a  student  early  in  his  course  to 
take  up  impersonation, — to  speak  as  Regulus  to  the 
Carthaginians  or  as  Webster  in  the  Senate,  for  fear  this 
practice  might  encourage  the  tendency  to  be  unreal.  I 
do  not  wish  him  to  think  of  himself  even  as  an  interpre- 
ter.   That  is  reading  and  we  are  working  at  speaking.-^ 
I  wish  the  student,  even  while  interpreting,  to  speak,  * 
strictly  in  his  own  person,  ideas  which  he  has  made  his  \ 
own  and  which  he  heartily  believes  in,  to  his  actual  audi- 
ence. 

It  is  true  that  it  does  a  young  man  good  to  *'get  out  of  himself" 
and  speak  as  Clay  or  Phillips ;  it  enlarges  his  outlook  and  de- 
velops his  imagination.  But  these  benefits  may  be  sought  in  oral 
reading  and  amateur  acting ;  though  much  acting  cannot  be  ad- 
vised, lest  the  speaker  become  unable  to  keep  the  actor  ofi^  the 
platform.  The  speaker  who  has  first  been  an  actor  often  has  a 
hard  time  in  gaining  the  power  to  speak  as  himself.  On  the  other 
hand,  some  speakers  benefit  by  throwing  themselves  into  a  part 
in  a  play,  finding  a  new  freedom. 

It  is  true  that  public  speakers  at  times  impersonate,  or  even 
become  actors  for  a  moment ;  as  in  "taking  off'*  a  person  or  in 
putting  a  situation  vividly  before  their  hearers.  They  may  say, 
Let  us  go  back  to  the  days  of  the  Revolution  and  imagine,  etc. ; 
but  always  they  maintain  an  understanding  with  their  audience. 
That  is  something  very  different  from  the  performance  of  the  fif- 
teen-year-old boy  who  strides  forward  and  begins  without  warn- 
ing :  "Ye  call  me  Chief,  and  ye  do  well  to  call  him  Chief  who 
for  twelve  long  years  has  met  upon  the  arena  every  shape  of 
man  or  beast  the  broad  empire  could  furnish."  Too  great  in- 
dulgence in  that  sort  of  thing,  and  in  La  Cigarette,  Lasca,  How 
the  poor  old  blind  wind-broken  horse  won  the  race,  and  the  Death- 
bed of  Benedict  Arnold   {Tr-r-aitor !) ,  which  seem  to  hold  the 


448 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


boards  in  school  "rhetoricals,"  goes  far  to  establish  the  bad  habits 
which  students  bring  to  college.  While  a  moderate  use  of  these 
kinds  of  selections  may  be  beneficial,  they  do  not  develop  a  con- 
ception of  genuine  public  speaking ;  and  students  who  have  been 
trained  upon  them  are  more  helpless  than  those-  who  never  faced 
an  audience,  when  asked  to  make  a  simple  speech  and  carry  out 
the  suggestions  of  Chapter  II.  If  "Curfew  m-u-s-t  not  ring 
t-o-n-i-g-h-t,"  at  least  let  us  not  call  the  agony  of  prevention, 
public  speaking. 

After  a  student  has  had  several  months  of  training  in 
which  to  find  himself,  some  impersonation  in  his  public 
speaking  course  may  prove  beneficial.  But  let  us  not 
confuse  reading,  acting  and  impersonating  with  public 
speaking.  It  is  the  speaker's  business  to  speak  as  him- 
self ;  let  him  learn  by  speaking  as  himself.  And  after  all, 
he  can  cultivate  imagination  by  speaking  of  ancient  Eome 
from  the  standpoint  of  to-day,  without  thinking  he  is 
Cicero  in  the  Forum ;  and  he  can  broaden  his  experience 
by  treating  of  our  Civil  War  as  related  to  the  present, 
and  by  reaching  out  from  our  little  college  world  to  the 
stirring  events  of  the  time.  Even  a  high  school  student 
may  well  take  notice  that  General  Weyler  is  no  longer 
butchering  the  innocent  Cubans  and  that  a  Chinese  ex- 
clusion act  was  passed  many  years  ago. 

It  is  not  only  those  selections  which  manifestly  call  for 
make-believe  on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  that  I  would  put 
under  the  ban  for  our  purpose ;  but  also  those  which  be- 
cause of  their  point  of  view  are  essentially  unfitted  to  a 
given  speaker.  Such  a  speech  is  Grady's  The  New  South, 
for  a  Northern  student.  It  is  distinctly  the  speech  of  a 
Southern  man.  Then  there  are  many  which,  while  still 
as  true  as  ever,  are  quite  cut  of  touch  with  the  present. 
This  same  New  South  speech  is  out  of  date  even  for  a 
Southern  student;  for  it  belongs  to  the  days  before  the 
Spanish  War  when  sectionalism  still  troubled  us.  There 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  449 


are  in  the  books  of  selections  many  good  speeches  about 
^  *  Imperialism, "  a  burning  issue  in  1900,  but  now  forgot- 
ten. Many  speeches  about  peace  and  arbitration  sound 
strange  since  the  European  war  began.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  selections  from  speeches  first  delivered  many 
years  ago  are  as  appropriate  as  ever;  as,  for  example, 
those  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

Only  the  limitations  of  the  public  speaker.  Under 
the  conditions  here  laid  down,  the  student  of  public 
speaking  will  still  have  liberties  enough.  He  may  do 
anything  which  any  genuine  speaker  may.  He  may  dis- 
cuss any  topic  known  among  men,  so  long  as  he  keeps 
his  feet  on  the  platform  and  remembers  who  he  is  and 
where  he  is. 

Finding  good  selections.  In  spite  of  the  limitations, 
the  supply  of  appropriate  selections  is  inexhaustible. 
While  some  old  favorites  are  ruled  out,  others,  with  or 
without  modification,  are  as  good  as  ever.  A  few  allu- 
sions can  be  removed,  a  new  illustration  used,  a  passage 
peculiarly  personal  to  the  author  can  be  cut  out  or  quoted, 
here  and  there  a  passage  rewritten ;  and  by  a  variety  of 
devices,  without  affecting  the  essential  qualities  of  the 
selection,  it  may  be  used  without  pretense.  That  elo- 
quent bit  from  Ingersoll,  At  Napoleon's  Tomb,  has  been 
built  over  successfully  in  several  ways  in  my  classes.  Of 
course,  if  the  alterations  have  to  be  very  extensive,  it  is 
evident  that  the  selection  in  question  is  not  the  one  to  be 
used.  By  means  of  such  changes  many  good  selections 
can  be  made  which  would  otherwise  hardly  be  thought  of. 
There  is  a  fine  passage  in  Jerome's  Three  Men  in  a  Boat, 
about  lumber  on  the  voyage  of  life.  By  composing  a  few 
words  of  explanation  about  the  story  which  suggests  the 
passage  and  changing  a  bit  the  beginning,  we  have  an 
excellent  selection. 


450 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Some  seem  horrified  by  such  tampering  with  printed 
words;  but  there  is  not  much  sacred  literature  that  is 
likely  to  be  used,  and  most  students  have  too  much  awe 
of  books.  It  is  really  excellent  training  in  speech-writ- 
ing to  make  a  good  selection,  cutting  out  here,  remodeling 
there,  and  producing  a  clear,  unified,  strong  speech.  It 
is  rather  rarely  that  we  find  a  selection  of  just  the  right 
length  without  some  cutting.  The  Curtis  selection  is 
composed  of  paragraphs  6  and  7  of  a  long  speech,  with 
the  excision  of  a  bit  from  the  end  of  the  first  of  the  two, 
in  order  to  remove  some  allusions  of  no  point  to-day. 

Where  to  find  good  material  is  an  ever  present  ques- 
tion. There  are  many  books  of  declamations,  and  if  the 
student  will  look  upon  these  as  containing  a  few  good 
selections  and  some  good  raw  material,  and  overlook  a 
good  deal  of  trash,  he  can  make  them  useful.  Most  of 
them  are  compiled  with  other  purposes  than  ours.  They 
are  filled  with  ''readings"  for  elocutionists.  And  it 
must  be  said  that  many  of  the  editors  show  more  regard 
for  sound  than  for  sense.  There  are,  however,  several 
useful  compilations. 

Among  the  best  of  these  books  for  our  purpose  are  Shurter's 
American  Oratory  of  To-c/at/,  Shurter's  Moderfi  American  Speaker^ 
The  Hamilton  Declamation  Quarterly,  Frink's  New  Century 
(Speaker,  and  Blackstone's  Best  American  Orations.  Some  excel- 
lent selections,  brief  and  fresh,  are  to  be  found  in  Lewis's  American 
Speech,  Chapter  IX. 

Many  of  the  best  selections  delivered  in  our  classes  are 
found  by  students  in  their  general  reading.  Such  essay- 
ists as  Stevenson,  Ruskin  and  Carlyle,  such  speakers  as 
Curtis,  Phillips  and  Watterson,  the  current  magazines 
of  the  better  class,  and  many  other  less  promising  sources 
are  drawn  upon.  The  more  popular  works  of  scientists 
and  scholars  occasionally  furnish  good  material.  For 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS 


451 


example,  a  good  selection  on  Habit  has  been  made  from 
James's  Talks  to  Teachers,  If  one  has  his  eyes  open  and 
knows  the  characteristics  of  a  good  selection,  he  will  find 
material  every  day. 

Much  time  is  lost  because  the  student  begins  his  hunt 
with  nothing  in  mind  but  a  piece  to  speak."  He  turns 
over  a  hundred,  not  really  getting  the  full  impression  of 
any,  and  finally  selects  one  that  will  ^^do."  Look  for  a 
particular  theme,  or  a  selection  by  a  particular  author,  or 
at  least  for  a  particular  kind  of  selection,  and  when  you 
find  one  at  all  promising  give  it  careful  attention.  Seek 
a  good  selection,  but  do  not  look  for  perfection.  A 
pretty  good  selection  well  assimilated  is  better  than  the 
best  one  found  too  late  for  thorough  preparation. 

Qualities  of  a  good  selection.  In  the  first  place,  the 
student  should  look  for  something  he  firmly  believes  in. 
Too  many  look  for  something  that  sounds  good,''  re- 
gardless of  content.  Phillip's  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  is 
remarkably  good  speaking  English ;  but  no  one,  unless  he 
actually  believes  them,  can  afford  to  deliver  its  aston- 
ishing claims.  That  would  develop  insincerity.  The 
speaker  should  not  be  contented  with  not  disbelieving  in 
his  selection;  he  should  feel  the  same  responsibility  for 
its  sentiments  as  if  he  had  written  it.  Let  him  find  a 
selection  which  represents  his  views  at  least  in  the  main ; 
and  then  modify  it  till  it  fits  exactly. 

Given  a  selection  you  believe  in,  the  next  question  is : 
Is  it  interesting?  Does  it  interest  you?  "Will  it  interest 
your  audience?  Next,  will  it  speak''?  Has  it  a  style 
of  such  clearness,  concreteness,  movement  and  climax 
that  it  is  adapted  to  public  delivery?  Many  a  splendid 
piece  of  literature  is  not  adapted  to  delivery.  Its  sen- 
tences may  be  too  involved ;  its  thought  too  subtle  or  too 
abstract,  or  it  may  leave  too  much  to  be  inferred.  Deliv- 


452 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


ery  may  do  much  to  supply  the  lacks,  and  it  may  be  good 
practice  at  times  to  speak,  for  example,  a  selection  cut 
from  Emerson's  essay  on  Self-Reliance,  and  do  your  best 
to  make  it  clear  and  impressive.  You  do  not  necessarily 
wish  a  selection  easy  for  your  hearers ;  make  as  great  a 
demand  upon  their  attention  as  you  can  successfully. 
But  it  is  essential  that  you  feel  they  are  following  you. 

Avoid  mere  eloquent  iits,  as  perorations,  which  may 
have  been  great  in  their  context,  but  which  detached  are 
mere  generalities.  These  often  come  after  long  discus- 
sions* which  made  them  highly  significant  to  the  original 
audiences;  but  alone  they  are  almost  meaningless.  Be 
sure  your  selection  in  itself  says  some  definite  thing,  in 
such  terms  that  it  will  strike  home.  There  are  many 
examples  to  prove  that  a  selection  can,  in  the  space  of  five 
hundred  words,  put  an  idea  clearly,  concretely  and  spe- 
cifically. 

See  that  your  selection  has  coherence  and  unity. 
There  are  many  in  the  declamation  books  which  lack  these 
qualities.  There  is  one  from  a  speech  by  Grady,  entitled 
The  Danger  of  Centralized  Government,  which  has  one 
paragraph  on  this  theme  and  the  rest  on  centralized 
wealth,  without  suggestion  of  connection  between  the  two 
topics.  If  we  are  to  treat  selections  as  merely  so  many 
eloquent  words,  their  use  is  certainly  a  wretched  practice. 

You  should  seek  a  selection  which  is  better  than  you 
can  yourself  produce ;  one  which  you  would  wish  to  have 
written.  It  should  contain  a  clear,  strong  thought,  the 
expression  of  which  will  draw  out  your  best  powers.  The 
selection  should  be  couched  in  good  language  also.  You 
cannot  afford  to  become  so  intimate  as  yOu  should  with 
your  selection,  to  make  it  a  part  of  your  own  thought- 
stuff,  unless  it  is  thoroughly  worthy,  though  it  need  not 
be  a  masterpiece.    And  your  study  will  give  it  a  most 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS 


453 


severe  test.  In  the  process  of  analysis,  assimilation  and 
drill,  every  muddy  thought,  every  weak  joint,  every  ex- 
traneous idea,  every  inconsistency,  will  be  detected. 

After  a  student  has  really  found  himself  as  a  speaker, 
and  in  the  process  has  found  out  his  faults,  it  is  often 
advisable  to  choose,  not  the  selection  which  he  can  speak 
best,  but  one  which  will  best  serve  to  counteract  some 
fault.  Sometimes  a  very  conversational  selection  will 
help  a  speaker  who  tends  to  be  too  oratorical.  Sometimes 
one  whose  delivery  is  jerky  is  improved  by  a  selection  of 
unusual  rhythm  and  smoothness.  Again,  a  speaker  of 
too  great  reserve  is  brought  out  by  a  selection  which  con- 

I     tains  a  dramatic  story. 

Methods  of  preparation.  If  the  study  and  delivery  of 
selections  is  to  be  profitable,  the  work  must  be  thoroughly 
done  by  a  sound  method.  There  are  few  w^orse  practices 
than  the  mere  memorizing  of  words  to  ' '  spout ' '  with  little 
regard  for  meaning.  It  is  about  as  bad  as  the  production 
of  undigested  stuff  in  '^cribbed,"  miscalled  '^original," 

I  speeches. 

The  average  person,  reading  over  such  a  selection  as 
Who  Is  to  Blame,  thinks  he  understands.  Perhaps  he 
does  well  enough  for  ordinary  purposes;  but  mastery 
sufficient  for  adequate  expression  is  quite  another  matter. 
And  very  often  he  confesses  after  longer  study  that  his 
first  understanding  was  quite  shallow  and  erroneous. 

Nor  is  it  enough  to  have  a  bare  understanding,  to  know 
the  meaning  of  every  word,  every  sentence  and  every 
paragraph.  There  should  be  the  most  thorough  study 
and  analysis ;  but  yet  more  important  is  the  assimilation 
which  comes  from  relating  the  contents  of  the  selection  to 
one's  own  thought  and  experience.  One  may  deliver  a 
selection  very  correctly,  and  yet  it  may  seem  very  empty, 
unless  he  assimilates  its  thought  and  emotion.    The  stu- 


454 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


dent  should  draw  out  from  his  own  experience,  direct  and 
indirect,  many  associations,  illustrations,  comparisons, 
and  make  many  applications  of  the  suggestions  of  the 
selections  to  familiar  situations.  By  these  means  dead 
words  may  become  living  thought.  That  imagination 
will  have  a  great  part  in  this  process  will  be  readily  un- 
derstood by  those  familiar  with  Chapters  III  and  IV. 

The  foundations  for  a  sound  method  have  been  laid  in 
those  chapters  and  in  Chapter  XIII.  I  shall  now  gather 
up  the  suggestions  applicable  to  the  study  of  selections 
into  a  scheme  of  study.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  many  matters  which  should  come  up  for  considera- 
tion in  the  study  of  a  given  selection,  cannot  be  indicated 
in  a  general  scheme,  and  also  that  each  student  will  be 
able,  once  started,  to  v/ork  out  other  methods  for  himself. 

The  use  of  such  a  scheme  is  a  great  advance  over  the 
usual  haphazard  study,  for  it  makes  study  systematic  and 
fruitful  and  it  keeps  attention  upon  a  selection  long 
enough  to  secure  some  degree  of  assimilation. 

There  is  no  order  necessarily  best.  Many  processes 
will  be  carried  on  at  once.  The  thought  back  of  the  ar- 
rangement below  is  that  once  having  gained  a  general 
idea  of  the  whole,  we  should  then  master  the  smaller  de- 
tails, which  are  necessary  to  fully  understanding  the 
larger  parts.  And  further,  the  more  analytical  work  is 
put  first,  so  that  the  more  constructive  work  of  the  latter 
part  may  remove  a  too  analytical  mood  before  the  worker 
reaches  the  stage  of  delivery. 

Scheme  for  the  Study  of  a  Selection  ^ 

When  this  scheme  is  used  as  the  basis  for  a  written  re- 
port, make  references  to  your  selection  clear  by  giving 
line  numbers,  or  otherwise. 

1  This  scheme  is  a  free  adaptatiou  of  Professor  I).  C.  Lec*s  leaf 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS 


455 


1.  Eead  the  selection  silently  until  the  main  outlines 
are  distinct  in  your  mind.  Try  to  concentrate  your  at- 
tention so  that  you  can  read  through  with  no  foreign 
ideas  intruding.  Do  not  read  aloud  at  all,  and  do  not 
speak  the  selection  until  you  have  mastered  it. 

2.  Make  sure  you  know  the  meaning  of  each  word  as 
here  used,  the  significance  of  each  name  and  allusion. 
(Do  not  make  guesses ;  look  up  all  words  you  are  not  sure 
of  and  include  your  findings  in  your  report.) 

3.  Indicate  the  parts  which  are  echoes,  restatements 
or  amplifications  of  preceding  parts,  and  what  they  echo, 
etc. 

4.  What  contrasts  do  you  find. 

5.  Indicate  the  new  idea  or  ideas  in  each  sentence. 

6.  "What  is  the  chief  idea  in  each  sentence. 

7.  Give  the  last  word  of  each  phrase. 

8.  Note  definitely  the  connection  of  sentence  with 
sentence.  Supply  ellipses.  Where  can  you  make  the 
meaning  or  the  attitude  clearer  by  adding  such  expres- 
sions as  even,  for  example,  in  spite  of,  granting,  etc.? 

9.  Be  sure  you  realize  the  feeling  of  each  part ;  that  is, 
whether  it  is  explanatory,  concessive,  ironical,  exclama- 
tory, triumphant,  etc, 

10.  Where  are  the  principal  climaxes  ? 

11.  Summarize  each  paragraph  in  one  crisp  sentence. 
Use  your  own  words.  If  the  paragraphing  does  not  seem 
right  to  you,  change. 

12.  State  clearly  the  transitions  in  thought  from  para- 
graph to  paragraph. 

13.  Summarize  the  whole  selection  in  a  single  sentence 
as  brief  and  simple  as  possible.  * 

14.  Make  an  outline  of  the  selection,  being  careful  to 

let,  How  to  Study  a  Declamation,  which,  was  based  upon  Kirb^'s 
t^ublic  Speaking  and  Reading. 


456 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


make  the  relations  of  principal  and  subordinate  ideas 
clear. 

15.  Work  out  the  thought  movement,  or  thought 
chain,  in  your  own  words.  The  statement  should  make 
clear  the  relation  of  paragraph  to  paragraph,  sentence  to 
sentence,  contain  each  link  of  the  thought  and  preserve 
the  feeling  and  attitude  of  each  part. 

16.  By  means  of  what  associations,  illustrations,  ex- 
amples, comparisons,  drawn  from  experience,  observation 
and  study,  do  you  add  meaning,  reality  and  interest  to 
this  selection  ? 

17.  Exercise  the  imagination  upon  the  selection. 
Describe  the  principal  images  which  aid  you  in  making 
the  thought  more  intense,  life-like  and  objective. 

18.  What  is  the  dominant  feeling,  or  the  mood,  of  the 
selection  ? 

19.  Take  time  to  assimilate  the  selection.  Dwell  upon 
it,  not  listlessly,  but  with  vigorous  attention,  until  the 
thoughts  grow  clear  and  definite,  the  images  vivid,  and 
the  feeling  genuine. 

20.  Memorizing.  Do  not  memorize  the  words  before 
the  content  has  been  mastered.  To  memorize  first  is  to 
put  words  before  thought.  When  the  above  work  has 
been  carefully  done,  then  go  silently  through  the  thought 
movement ;  then,  still  silently,  clothe  these  thoughts  with 
the  author's  words.  Then  say  the  words  aloud.  Hold 
the  thought  clearly  and  vigorously  in  mind  and  try  to 
express.  Let  the  thought  prompt  the  delivery.  Do  not 
at  this  stage  think  of  making  a  speech;  speak  as  to  a 
single  person.  Gradually  build  up  and  strengthen  to  fit 
the  needs  of  the  platform,  retaining  all  the  time  the  es- 
sential conversational  conditions:  1.  Thinking  at  the 
moment  of  deliver^;  2.  The  sense  of  direct  communica- 
tion. 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  457 


21.  Practice  much, — always  with  wide-awake  mind. 
Force  your  delivery  to  expressiveness  by  repeated  trials, 
accentuating  your  consciousness  of  the  meaning  and  en- 
tering more  and  more  into  the  spirit  of  the  selection. 

If  you  do  not  find  the  process  of  memorizing  easy,  it 
will  probably  be  because  the  work  of  interpretation  and 
assimilation  has  not  been  sufficiently  well  done.  Profes- 
sor James  has  said  that  '^The  art  of  remembering  is  the 
art  of  thinking;  and  when  we  wish  to  fix  a  new  thing  [in 
memory],  our  conscious  effort  should  not  be  so  much  to 
impress  and  retain  it  as  to  connect  it  with  something  else 
already  there.  The  connecting  is  the  thinking/'  Of 
course,  in  fixing  the  precise  words,  a  definite  effort  to  im- 
press and  retain  may  be  necessary ;  although  surprisingly 
little  effort  is  needed  for  this  when  assimilation  is  thor- 
ough. 

If  you  have  trouble  in  making  your  delivery  expressive, 
the  cause,  again,  is  probably  lack  of  assimilation.  Go 
through  the  plan  of  study  more  carefully  and  the  result 
will  be  better.  Make  the  thought  your  thought,  the 
words  your  words. 

Explanations  and  Illustrations.  The  numerals  below  correspond 
to  those  of  the  scheme  of  study.  The  illustrations  are  from  Who's 
to  Blame? 

2.  Unfortunately  there  is  need  of  emphasis  upon  the  truth  that 
no  intelligent  man  should  permit  himself  to  speak  words  he  does 
not  understand.  Even  common  expressions,  such  as  public  dutt/y 
will  bear  consideration.  What  does  poolroom  mean,  as  used  in 
the  Curtis  selection?  Infidels?  Intrigwe?  Books  of  literary  and 
historical  references,  biographical  dictionaries  and  cyclopedias,  such 
as  are  found  in  every  library,  will  quickly  clear  up  many  obscure 
matters  (See  Chapter  XI).  A  good  dictionary  should,  of  course,  be 
found  in  every  student's  room.  It  should  be  explained  here  that 
Jonathan  Wild  stands  for  William  M.  Tweed ;  but  both  Wild  and 
Tweed  should  be  looked  up.  What  kind  of  men  were  Turpin  and 
Diddler,  and  what  do  their  names  here  signify? 

3.  This  question  can  be  answered  conveniently  in  this  manner : 


458 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


In  line  2,  vote 


echoes 


voting,  line  2. 
public  duty,  1.  1. 
essentially,  1.  3. 
sentence  5. 


3,  political  duty 
G,    very  heart 


Sentence  6, 


amplifies 


All  the  echoes,  etc.,  which  have  any  appreciable  effect  upon  de- 
livery, should  be  put  down,  however  formidable  the  array. 

5  and  6.  These  may  be  conveniently  answered  in  parallel  col- 
umns. Use  any  way  which  reveals  your  understanding  without 
waste  of  wwds.  Use  now  the  words  of  the  text,  and  now  trans- 
late. 

7.  The  last  word  is  given  simply  as  an  economical  way  of  an- 
swering. 

8.  The  expressions  supplied  are  not  to  be  spoken,  unless  they 
seem  to  improve  the  composition.  The  student  will  recall  that  this 
and  most  of  the  other  questions  are  explained  in  Chapters  III  and 
XIII.  In  the  Curtis  selection  imagine  the  questions  and  other  re- 
sponses a  man  who  thinks  himself  a  good  citizen  might  make,  as, 
for  example,  after  the  third  sentence,  *'What  should  I  do?"  In 
speaking  of  the  Pharisee,  one  gets  the  flavor  of  the  allusion  by 
thinking,  **You  remember  the  one  in  the  parable  of  the  two  men 
who  went  up  intr  the  temple  to  pray."  (See  Luke  18:10.)  I  do 
not  mean  that  this  necessarily  takes  the  form  of  words  as  one 
speaks,  but  that  something  like  it  must  lie  in  the  "fringe  of  con- 
sciousness,'* if  one  is  to  catch  the  right  turn ;  for,  notice,  this  is  a 
particular  Pharisee.  At  the  end  of  Sentence  9  may  be  thought, 
"two  grand  rascals,"  or,  "no  choice  at  all."  The  difficulties  of  10 
are  lessened  by  thinking,  "what  an  absurdity  !"  and  "Think  of  it, 
Diddler  a  reformer!"  Sentence  14  is  like  this  to  me:  "To  say 
that  in  this  country  the  rogues  must  rule  [as  you  have  saidl 
is  to  defy  history  [as  I  have  just  shown  you]  and  [what  is  vastly 
more  important  to  a  genuine  American]  to  despair  of  the  Republic. 
[Don't  you  see  what  your  defense  amounts  to?]"  By  holding  in 
mind  these  unexpressed  ideas  one  gets  their  effect  in  his  voice. 

11.  Be  sure  you  catch  the  essential  rather  than  some  incidental 
idea,  and  give  the  true  point  of  view.  Make  your  summaries  crisp 
enough  to  carry  easily  in  mind.  Do  not  put  here  what  belongs  in 
Question  15. 

12.  This  question  is  a  severe  test  of  understanding.  Do  not 
catch  at  some  trivial  link.  In  the  Curtis  selection,  what  question 
is  raised  in  the  first  paragraph  that  is  answered  in  the  second? 

13.  In  this  selection  the  summary  should  turn  on  the  question  of 
Whose  fault. 

15.  One  preparing  a  selection  should  go  over  the  thought,  ex- 
pressing it  very  fully,  several  times.    Pie  should  use  his  own  w^ords 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  459 


to  make  sure  he  is  getting  at  the  content,  not  merely  the  author's 
words. 

16  and  17.  We  may  illustrate  further  here  what  has  been  ex- 
plained in  Chapters  III  and  IV.  The  work  of  10  and  17  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  assimilation.  After  gaining  an  understand- 
ing of  the  meaning  of  the  words  before  you,  you  may  proceed  by  a 
process  not  altogether  unlike  that  you  would  have  gone  through 
had  you  written  the  selection  yourself.  The  Curtis  selection  treats 
of  political  duty  and  political  corruption.  Our  author  refers  to 
concrete  instances  and  these  form  associations  for  the  ideas ;  but 
you  are  not  limited  to  these.  You  have  gone  through  political 
campaigns.  First-hand  knowledge  is  best.  Then  you  have  heard 
and  read  of  politics  local,  state  and  national ;  you  have  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  in  various  cities,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  San 
Francisco ;  certain  leaders  and  bosses  are  familiar  from  pictures  and 
cartoons ;  you  know  something  of  various  reform  movements,  di- 
rect nominations,  short  ballots,  commission  form  of  city  govern- 
ment, municipal  leagues,  and  the  like.  All  this  you  bring  out  of 
memory,  or  as  much  as  has  any  bearing  on  your  selection,  and  by 
means  of  it  you  begin  to  assimilate  your  speech. 

Very  likely  your  knowledge  is  limited  and  vague.  You  can  con- 
tinue your  work  by  reading  and  by  conversation  with  those  who 
have  more  information  and  experience.  As  your  selection  refers  to 
the  Tweed  regime  in  New  York  City,  you  will  look  that  up  especially. 
Some  of  the  possible  sources  are  the  report  prepared  by  Samuel 
J.  Tilden,  Myers's  History  of  Tammany  Hall,  the  second  volume  of 
Bryce's  American  Commonwealth,  the  tiles  of  the  papers  of  the  pe- 
riod (about  1872),  say  Harper's  Weekly,  then  edited  by  George 
William  Curtis  and  illustrated  with  Nast's  famous  Tammany  car- 
toons. Accounts  of  later  struggles  in  New  York  and  in  other 
ring-ruled  cities  will  give  a  more  present-day  aspect  to  the  subject. 

Make  your  work  specific.  It  is  of  little  use  to  go  over  things  in 
the  general  way  I  have  above.  If  the  idea  of  direct  nominations 
is  to  be  of  service,  you  must  run  it  out  far  enough  to  see  clearly 
how  it  affects  the  problem  of  "shaping  the  alternative."  A  general 
notion  that  there  has  been  corruption  in  San  Francisco  will  be  of 
but  the  slightest  value. 

The  first  sentence  is  very  simple ;  but  what  does  public  duty  mean 
to  you?  Run  this  abstraction  out  into  concrete  details.  To  do  so 
here  would  take  undue  space ;  but  I  mean  that  this  should  be  done 
very  specifically,  taking  account  of  the  responsibilities  that  rest 
upon  a  citizen  of  a  republic,  with  special  reference  to  the  duty  of 
selecting  oflScials.  You  can  see  citizens  going  about  their  duties, 
rallying  voters  to  the  primaries,  interviewing,  writing  letters,  mak- 
ing speeches,  forming  clubs,  or  working  in  any  other  tangible  ways. 


460 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


You  see  also  certain  sleek  self-satisfied  citizens  who  do  nothing  but 
vote  on  election  day.  Plainly  that  is  not  enough ;  not  even  if  they 
take  great  pains  to  go  and  vote,  as  is  the  case  with  this  man  who 
goes  all  the  way  from  New  York  to  Chicago,  leaving  important 
business,  just  to  vote.  You  may  seem  to  see  these  men  as  real 
persons,  men  who  know,  or  as  typical  citizens.  Let  them  be  tall 
or  short,  fat  or  lean,  dressed  so  and  so;  that  is,  vividly  con- 
ceived persons.  You  cannot  see  a  smug  look  unless  you  see  it  on 
a  face.    Make  your  citizen  look  like  a  real  man. 

You  may  seem  to  talk  with  them.  To  make  the  point  clearer, 
you  draw  an  analogy  from  the  religious  field,  in  which  the  evils  of 
formalism  are  well  recognized ;  and  you  choose  a  familiar  figure, 
the  Pharisee  of  Luke  xviii.  Look  this  gentleman  up,  but  do  not 
catch  the  wrong  suggestion.  For  us  it  is  formalism,  not  hypocrisy. 
(In  the  last  sentence  of  the  selection  we  are  more  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  self-righteousness  of  the  Pharisee.)  *'But  why 
do  you  call  us  political  Pharisees?'*  demand  the  indignant  citizens. 
"Don't  you  see — the  'doubtful  alternative'?"  you  explain.  **You 
may  have  only  a  choice  between  two  rascals,  between  John  Doe, 
the  paid  tool  of  the  public  service  corporations,  and  Richard  Roe, 
the  coarse  grafter."  "But  what  should  we  do?"  ask  the  citizens. 
"Help  choose  the  candidates,  go  to  the  primaries ;  nay,  go  to  work 
before  the  primaries,  each  doing  something  to  secure  at  least  one 
good  candidate."  And  so  on.  This  is  only  a  hint  of  what  may  be 
done.  It  is  not  an  attempt  to  say  just  what  should  come  into  your 
mind.    Each  mind  will  differ  from  all  others. 

The  scene  about  the  polls  is  peculiarly  open  to  the  work  of 
imagination.  It  is  a  little  drama ;  and  most  students  fail  to  "get 
into"  this  part,  because  they  do  not  go  beyond  matter-of-fact. 
Let  us  stand  and  watch  near  the  polling  place  in  a  corrupt  dis- 
trict. Banners  bearing  the  party  slogans  are  stretched  across  the 
street.  Dodgers  are  thrust  into  our  hands  and  we  read,  "Vote  for 
Diddler  and  Reform !"  A  worker  eagerly  whispers  to  us,  "Vote 
for  good  old  honest  Dick !  He  is  none  of  your  sniveling  reform- 
ers ;  he  won't  interfere  with  the  boys."  Up  an  alley  we  see  a 
worker  bargaining  for  votes  at  two  dollars  apiece ;  while  down  the 
street  comes  a  dive-keeper  with  a  drove  of  drunken  loafers  he  has 
kept  in  his  back  room  all  night, — all  out  to  vote  for  Diddler  and 
reform.  Our  friend,  the  honest  and  respectable  citizen,  steps  from 
his  carriage  on  his  way  down  town,  intent  on  doing  his  full  politi- 
cal duty.  He  seems  a  bit  shocked  at  the  sights  and  the  men  who 
greet  him, — "plug  uglies"  with  flashy  clothes,  tall  hats,  glass  dia-| 
monds  and  long  black  cigars.  Still,  it  is  what  he  is  used  to ;  he  has  ^ 
always  left  the  "dirty  work"  of  politics  to  "the  boys."  As  he  takes 
his  ballot  with  a  somewhat  gingerly  air,  we  hurl  at  him,  "Don't 
forget  your  indifference  is  to  blame  for  this  shocking  choice !"  And 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  461 


we  quote  mockingly,  "Vote  for  *Turpm  and  honesty or,  if  you  pre- 
fer, try  'Diddler  and  reform !'  " 

The  rest  of  the  speech  may  be  worked  out  as  a  trial,  with  an  in- 
dictment, a  plea,  analysis  of  the  evidence  and  final  condemnation. 
Of  course,  this  must  not  be  pressed  too  far ;  but  it  helps  to  bring 
out  the  thought  movement.  The  last  sentence  is  a  good  example  of 
how  imagination  may  help.  Students  usually  rattle  this  off  with- 
out discrimination  of  parts,  and  either  indifferently  or  with  mere 
loudness.  Let  the  student  put  himself  in  the  place  of  one  who  is 
out  working  to  defeat  the  renomination  of  a  grafting  alderman. 
He  goes  to  a  friend  to  ask  his  help.  But  he  finds  his  friend  sit- 
ting before  a  cheerful  fire  reading,  blissfully  unconscious  that  there 
is  anything  to  be  done.  Even  when  told,  he  is  indifferent.  '*Why 
so  excited?"  he  asks.  "Sit  down  and  have  a  chat."  Our  worker 
urges  and  his  friend  is  driven  to  excuses.  He  wraps  his  snobbish 
respectability  about  him  and  says  it  is  no  work  for  a  gentleman. 
Pressed  further,  he  begins  to  believe  in  his  own  excuses  and,  de- 
generating still  further  in  his  citizenship,  he  says,  "I  half  believe 
this  government  is  only  the  rule  of  a  mob  anyhow."  Then  quite 
convinced,  he  adds,  "Between  you  and  me,  I  hope  we  shall  soon  be 
rid  of  it ;  what  we  want  is  a  vigorous  despot."  A  man  of  earnest 
purpose  who  found  himself  confronted  by  such  a  citizen  would 
surely  wish  to  kick  him ;  and  that  feeling  is  what  the  speaker 
needs. 

Use  these,  and  any  other  means,  of  thinking  and  feeling 
yourself  into  the  selection ;  and  you  will  find  that  what 
you  may  have  thought  you  fully  understood  at  first  read- 
ing, will  become  vastly  more  significant.  It  may  come  to 
mean  as  much  to  you  as  to  its  author;  indeed,  it  may 
mean  more  to  you.  He  has  furnished  you  with  a  sugges- 
tive form  of  words ;  what  their  content  shall  be  depends 
largely  upon  you,  though  you  should  not,  of  course,  dis-  • 
tort  them  from  their  normal  meaning. 

I  append  here  three  selections  which  have  been  very 
severely  tested  in  the  class  room.  They  present  a  consid- 
erable variety  of  style  and  of  problems.  A  student  who 
masters  the  delivery  of  these  should  be  equal  to  anything. 
He  will  certainly  find  that  he  has  5:rown.  But  remember 
that  the  mere  declaiming  of  them  without  assimilation 
will  do  harm. 


46£ 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


WHO  IS  TO  BLAME? 
Prom  The  Public  Duty  of  Educated  Men, 
By  George  William  Curtis 

1  I.    1.  Public  duty  in  this  country  is  not  discharged, 

2  as  is  often  supposed,  by  voting.    2.  A  man  may  vote 

3  regularly,  and  still  fail  essentially  of  his  political 

4  duty,  as  the  Pharisee  who  gave  tithes  of  all  that  he 

5  possessed,  and  fasted  three  times  in  the  week,  yet 

6  lacked  the  very  heart  of  religion.    3.  When  an  Amer- 

7  ican  citizen  is  content  with  voting  merely,  he  con- 

8  sents  to  accept  what  is  often  a  doubtful  alternative. 

9  4.  His  first  duty  is  to  help  shape  the  alternative.  5. 

10  This,  which  was  formerly  less  necessary,  is  now  in- 

11  dispensable.    6.  In  a  rural  community  such  as  this 

12  country  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  whoever  was  nomi- 

13  nated  for  office  was  known  to  his  neighbors,  and  the 

14  consciousness  of  that  knowledge  was  a  conservative 

15  influence  in  determining  nominations.    7.  But  in  the 

16  local  elections  of  the  great  cities  of  to-day,  elections 

17  that  control  taxation  and  expenditure,  the  mass  of 

18  the  voters  vote  in  absolute  ignorance  of  the  candi- 

19  dates.    8.  The  citizen  who  supposes  that  he  does  all 

20  his  duty  when  he  votes,  places  a  premium  upon  po- 

21  litical  knavery.    9.  Thieves  welcome  him  to  the  polls 

22  and  offer  him  a  choice,  which  he  has  done  nothing 

23  to  prevent,  between  Jeremy  Diddler  and  Dick  Tur- 

24  pin.    10.  The  party  cries,  for  which  he  is  responsi- 

25  ble,  are  ''Turpin  and  Honesty!''  ''Diddler  and  Re- 

26  form!"    11.  And  within  a  few  years,  as  a  result  of 

27  this  indifference  to  the  details  of  public  duty,  the  most 

28  powerful  politician  in  the  Empire  State  of  the  Union 

29  was  Jonathan  Wild  the  Great,  the  captain  of  a  ban(? 

30  of  plunderers.    12.  I  know  it  is  said  that  the  knaves 

31  have  taken  the  honest  men  in  a  net,  and  have  con- 

32  trived  machinery  which  will  inevitably  grind  only 

33  the  grist  of  rascals.    13.  The  answer  is,  that  when 

34  honest  men  did     ce  what  they  ought  to  do  always, 

35  the  thieves  were  netted  and  their  machine  was 

36  broken.    14.  To  Sc  /  that  in  this  country  the  rogues 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  463 


37  must  rule,  is  to  defy  history  and  to  despair  of  the 

38  republic. 

39  II.    15.  If  ignorance  and  corruption  and  intrigue 

40  control  the  primary  meeting,  and  manage  the  conven- 

41  tion,  and  dictate  the  nomination,  the  fault  is  in  the 

42  honest  and  intelligent  workshop  and  office,  in  the 

43  library  and  the  parlor,  in  the  church  and  the  school. 

44  16.  When  they  are  as  constant  and  faithful  to  their 

45  political  rights  as  the  slums  and  the  grogshops,  the 

46  pool-rooms  and  the  kennels;  when  the  educated,  in- 

47  dustrious,  temperate,  thrifty  citizens  are  as  zealous 

48  and  prompt  and  unfailing  in  political  activity  as  the 

49  ignorant  and  venal  and  mischievous,  or  when  it  is 

50  plain  that  they  cannot  be  roused  to  their  duty,  then, 

51  but  not  until  then — if  ignorance  and  corruption  al- 

52  ways  carry  the  day — there  can  be  no  honest  question 

53  that  the  republic  has  failed.    17.  But  let  us  not  be 

54  deceived.    18.  While  good  men  sit  at  home,  not  know- 

55  ing  that  there  is  anything  to  be  done,  nor  caring  to 

56  know;  cultivating  a  feeling  that  politics  are  tiresome 

57  and  dirty,  and  politicians,  vulgar  bullies  and  bravoes 

58  half  persuaded  that  a  republic  is  the  contemptible 

59  rule  of  a  mob,  and  secretly  longing  for  a  splendid  and 

60  vigorous  despotism — then  remember,  it  is  not  a  gov- 

61  ernment  mastered  by  ignorance,  it  is  a  government 

62  betrayed  by  intelligence ;  it  is  not  the  victory  of  the 

63  slums,  it  is  the  surrender  of  the  schools;  it  is  not 

64  that  bad  men  are  brave,  but  that  good  men  are  infi- 

65  dels  and  cowards. 

A  LIBERAL  EDUCATION  ^ 

From  Lay  Sermons,  Addresses,  and  Revieics,  by  Thomas  Huxley 

1  I.    1.  Suppose  it  were  perfectly  certain  that  the  life 

2  and  fortune  of  every  one  of  us  would,  one  day  or 

3  other,  depend  upon  his  winning  or  losing  a  game  at 

4  chess.    2.  Don't  you  think  we  should  all  consider  it 

1  This  selection  as  a  whole  is  not  unified.  It  is  best  used  as 
two  selections.  The  first  three  paragraphs  form  one  unit  and 
the  remaining  two  another. 


464 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


5  a  primary  duty  to  learn  at  least  the  names  and  the 

6  moves  of  the  pieces;  to  have  a  notion  of  a  gambit, 

7  and  a  keen  eye  for  all  the  means  of  giving  and  get- 

8  ting  out  of  a  cheek  ?    3.  Do  you  not  think  we  should 

9  look  with  a  disapprobation  amounting  to  scorn,  upon 

10  a  father  who  allowed  his  son,  or  the  state  which  al- 

11  lowed  its  members,  to  grow  up  without  knowing  a 

12  pawn  from  a  knight? 

13  II.    4.  Yet  it  is  a  very  plain  and  elementary  truth, 

14  that  the  life,  that  the  fortune,  and  the  happiness  of 

15  every  one  of  us,  and,  more  or  less,  of  those  who  are 

16  connected  with  us,  do  depend  upon  our  knowing 

17  something  of  the  rules  of  a  game  infinitely  more  diffi- 

18  cult  and  complicated  than  chess.    5.  It  is  a  game 

19  which  has  been  played  for  untold  ages,  every  man 

20  and  woman  of  us  being  one  of  the  two  players  in  a 

21  game  of  his  or  her  own.    6.  The  chess-board  is  the 

22  world,  the  pieces  are  the  phenomena  of  the  universe, 

23  the  rules  of  the  game  are  what  we  call  the  laws  of 

24  Nature.    7.  The  player  on  the  other  side  is  hidden 

25  from  us.    8.  We  know  that  his  play  is  always  fair, 

26  just  and  patient.    9.  But  also  we  know,  to  our  cost, 

27  that  he  never  overlooks  a  mistake,  or  makes  the  small- 

28  est  allowance  for  ignorance.    10.  To  the  man  who 

29  plays  well,  the  highest  stakes  are  paid,  with  that  sort 

30  of  overflowing  generosity  with  which  the  strong  shows 

31  delight  in  strength.    11.  And  one  who  plays  ill  is 

32  checkmated — without  haste,  but  without  remorse. 

33  III.    12.  Well,  what  I  mean  by  Education  is  learn- 

34  ing  the  rules  of  this  mighty  game.    13.  In  other 

35  words,  education  is  the  instruction  of  the  intellect  in 

36  the  laws  of  Nature,  under  which  name  I  include  not 

37  merely  things  and  their  forces,  but  men  and  their 

38  ways ;  and  the  fashioning  of  the  affections  and  of  the 

39  will  into  an  earnest  and  loving  desire  to  move  in  har- 

40  mony  with  those  laws. 

41  IV.    14.  That  man,  I  think,  has  a  liberal  educa- 

42  tion,  who  has  been  so  trained  in  his  youth  that  his 

43  body  is  the  ready  servant  of  his  will,  and  does  with 

44  ease  and  pleasure  all  the  work  that,  as  a  mechanism, 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS  465 


45  it  is  capable  of;  whose  intellect  is  a  clear,  cold,  logic 

46  engine,  with  all  its  parts  of  equal  strength,  and  in 

47  smooth  working  order ;  ready,  like  a  steam  engine,  to 

48  be  turned  to  any  kind  of  work,  and  spin  the  gos- 

49  samers  as  well  as  forge  the  anchors  of  the  mind; 

50  whose  mind  is  stored  with  a  knowledge  of  the  great 

51  and  fundamental  truths  of  Nature  and  of  the  laws  of 

52  her  operations;  one  who,  no  stunted  ascetic,  is  full 

53  of  life  and  fire,  but  whose  passions  are  trained  to 

54  come  to  heel  by  a  vigorous  will,  the  servant  of  a  ten- 

55  der  conscience;  who  has  learned  to  love  all  beauty, 

56  whether  of  nature  or  of  art,  to  hate  all  vileness,  and 

57  to  respect  others  as  himself. 

58  V.    15.  Such  an  one,  and  no  other,  I  conceive,  has 

59  had  a  liberal  education ;  for  he  is,  as  completely  as  a 

60  man  can  be,  in  harmony  with  Nature.    16.  He  will 

61  make  the  best  of  her,  and  she  of  him.    17.  They  will 

62  get  on  together  rarely;  she  as  his  ever  beneficent 

63  mother ;  he  as  her  mouthpiece,  her  conscious  self,  her 

64  minister  and  interpreter. 

AWAIT  THE  ISSUE 

Adapted  from  Carlyle's  Past  and  Present 

1  I.    In  this  God's-world,  with  its  wild,  whirling  ed- 

2  dies  and  mad,  foam  oceans,  where  men  and  nations 

3  perish  as  if  without  law,  and  judgment  for  an  unjust 

4  thing  is  sternly  delayed,  dost  thou  think  that  there  is 

5  therefore  no  justice  ?    It  is  what  the  fool  hath  said  in 

6  his  heart.    It  is  what  the  wise,  in  all  times,  w^ere  wise 

7  because  they  denied  and  knew  forever  not  to  be.  I 

8  tell  thee  there  is  nothing  else  but  justice.   One  strong 

9  thing  I  find  here  below:  the  just  thing,  the  true  thing. 

10  II.    My  friend,  if  thou  hadst  all  the  artillery  of 

11  Woolwich  trundling  at  thy  back  in  support  of  an  un- 

12  just  thing,  and  infinite  bonfires  visibly  waiting  ahead 

13  of  thee  to  blaze  centuries  long  for  the  victory  on  be- 

14  half  of  it,  I  would  advise  thee  to  call  halt,  to  fling 

15  down  thy  baton  and  say,  ^^In  heaven's  name,  no 

16  III.    Thy  ''success"?    Poor  devil,  what  will  thy 


466 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


17  success  amount  to  ?    If  the  thing  is  unjust,  thou  htist 

18  not  succeeded;  no,  not  though  bonfires  blazed  from 

19  north  to  south,  and  bells  rang,  and  editors  wrote  lead- 

20  ing  articles,  and  the  just  things  lay  trampled  out  of 

21  sight, — to  all  mortal  eyes  an  abolished  and  annihilated 

22  thing.  .  .  . 

23  IV.    For  it  is  the  right  and  noble  alone  that  will 

24  have  victory  in  this  struggle;  the  rest  is  wholly  an 

25  obstruction,  a  postponement,  a  fearful  imperilment, 

26  of  the  victory.    Towards  an  eternal  center  of  right 

27  and  nobleness,  and  of  that  only,  is  all  confusion  tend- 

28  ing.    We  already  know  whither  it  is  all  tending ;  what 

29  will  have  victory,  what  will  have  none !   The  heaviest 

30  will  reach  the  center.    The  heaviest  has  its  deflec- 

31  tions ;  its  obstructions ;  nay,  at  times  its  resiliences,  its 

32  reboundings,  whereupon  some  blockhead  shall  be 

33  heard  jubilating,  ^^See,  your  heaviest  ascends!''  but 

34  at  all  moments  it  is  moving  centerward,  fast  as  is 

35  convenient  for  it;  sinking,  sinking;  and,  by  laws 

36  older  than  the  world,  old  as  the  Maker's  first  plan  of 

37  the  world,  it  has  to  arrive  there. 

38  V.    Await  the  issue.    In  all  battles,  if  you  await 

39  the  issue,  each  fighter  has  prospered  according  to  his 

40  right.    His  right  and  his  might,  at  the  close  of  the 

41  account,  were  one  and  the  same.   He  has  fought  with 

42  all  his  might,  and  in  exact  proportion  to  all  his  right  he 

43  has  prevailed.    His  very  death  is  no  victory  over  him. 

44  He  dies  indeed;  but  his  work  lives,  very  truly  lives. 

45  VI.    An  heroic  Wallace,  quartered  on  the  scaf- 

46  fold,  cannot  hinder  that  his  Scotland  become,  one 

47  day,  a  part  of  England;  but  he  does  hinder  that  it 

48  become,  on  tyrannous  terms,  a  part  of  it;  commands 

49  still,  as  with  a  god 's  voice,  from  his  old  Valhalla  and 

50  Temple  of  the  brave,  that  there  be  a  just,  real  union 

51  as  of  brother  and  brother,  not  a  false  and  merely 

52  semblant  one  as  of  slave  and  master.    If  the  union 

53  with  England  be  in  fact  one  of  Scotland's  chief 

54  blessings,  we  thank  Wallace  withal  that  it  was  not 

55  the  chief  curse.  .  .  . 

56  VII.    Fight  on,  thou  brave,  true  heart ;  and  falter 


THE  STUDY  OF  SELECTIONS 


467 


57  not,  through  dark  fortune  and  through  bright.  The 

58  cause  thou  tightest  for,  so  far  as  it  is  true,  no  further, 

59  yet  precisely  so  far,  is  very  sure  of  victory.  The 

60  falsehood  alone  of  it  will  be  conquered,  will  be  abol- 

61  ished,  as  it  ought  to  be;  but  the  truth  of  it  is  part 

62  of  Nature's  own  laws,  cooperates  with  the  world's 

63  eternal  tendencies,  and  cannot  be  conquered. 

I 


CHAPTER  XV 


GESTURE 

The  term  gesture  is  broad  enough  to  cover  every  action 
and  posture  expressive  of  thought  or  feeling.  It  suggests 
action  and  we  usually  think  of  gesture  as  movement, 
especially  of  hands  and  arms ;  but  good  usage  will  justify 
the  above  statement.  We  cannot,  furthermore,  limit  our- 
selves to  actions  which  are  intended  to  express  an  idea 
or  a  passion";  for  we  are  concerned  with  all  expression, 
whether  intentional  or  not. 

But  taking  gesture  in  the  more  usual  sense  of  action 
intended  to  express  ideas  and  feelings,  Why  should  the 
speaker  gesture  ?  ^"^ 

Gesture  is  an  important  means  of  expression.  A 
speaker  who  is  full  of  his  subject  and  has  a  great  deal  to 
express  will  feel  the  need  of  every  means  of  expressing 
himself.  Any  man  who  eagerly  desires  to  communicate 
his  ideas  and  feelings,  knows  the  inadequacy  of  language. 
This  is  not  to  imply  that  gesture  is  the  resource  only  of 
those  exceedingly  serious  over  a  great  message.  Any  one 
eager  to  convey  an  impression,  though  it  be  of  the  light- 
est nature,  feels  the  need  of  action. 

We  find,  too,  that  although  its  range  is  more  limited, 
gesture  is  often  a  quicker,  plainer  and  stronger  means  of 
expression  than  spoken  words,  for  its  appeal  is  to  the 
eye.  A  motion  toward  the  door,  a  shrug,  a  lifted  eye- 
brow,— what  words  can  equal  these  gestures?  Gesture, 
within  its  limitations,  is  an  unmistakable  language,  and 

468 


GESTURE 


469 


is  understood  by  men  of  all  races  and  tongues.  Even 
a  dog  understands  some  gestures.  Gesture  is  our  most 
instinctive  language;  at  least  it  goes  back  to  the  begin- 
ning of  all  communication  when  the  race,  still  lacking 
articulate  speech,  could  express  only  through  the  tones  of 
inarticulate  sounds  and  through  movements.  And  be- 
cause it  is  so  deeply  imbedded  in  our  primitive  reactions, 
all  men  express  themselves  by  gesture  and  all  men  under- 
stand gesture. 

Gesture  is  particularly  adapted  to  the  expression  of 
feeling.    The  degree  of  the  speaker's  earnestness,  his  at- 
titude toward  the  idea  presented,  whether  he  accounts 
it  trivial  or  important,  acceptable  or  objectionable,  pleas- 
ing or  disgusting,  uplifting  or  debasing,  whether  he  is 
eager  or  conservative,  mocking  or  serious, — all  these  and 
many  other  attitudes  and  feelings  the  speaker  reveals  by 
posture,  action  and  facial  expression.    Gesture  is  used 
also,  but  less  frequently,  to  express  cold  fact  and  ideas 
apart  from  feeling;  as,  that  the  statue  was  so  high,  or 
that  there  are  two  opposing  principles.    Its  use  for  this 
purpose  is  obviously  limited.    In  narration  and  descrip- 
tion action  is  much  used ;  but  usually  in  these  there  is 
strong  emotional  coloring.    Words  have  developed  along  j 
with  ideas,  and  generally  speaking,  are  the  clearest  ex-  \ 
pression  of  them.    Emotions  are  more  primitive  than  \ 
ideas.    Primitive  man  had  little  to  express  besides  his 
likes  and  his  dislikes,  his  joy  and  his  sorrow,  his  fear  and 
his  triumph.  \ 

Darwin  and  others  have  traced  the  origin  of  our  familiar  ges- 
tures, in  many  instances,  to  "serviceable  associated  habits'*  de- 
veloped by  our  early  ancestors.  Thus,  i  *'the  snarl  or  sneer,  the 
one-sided  uncovering  of  the  upper  teeth,  is  accounted  for  by  Darwin 
as  a  survival  from  the  time  when  our  ancestors  had  larire  canines, 
and  unfleshed  them  (as  dogs  do  now)  for  attack."    Very  likely 

1  James,  Briefer  Course^  p.  388, 


470 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


some  of  the  attempted  explanations  of  particular  actions  are  far- 
fetched ;  but  the  general  thought  is  suggestive.  We  can  readily 
understand  how  among  the  natural  indications  of  aggressive  de- 
termination are  a  jaw  set  and  protruding  and  clenched  fists. 

1 "  Another  principle  .  .  .  may  be  called  the  principle  of  re- 
acting similarly  to  analogous- feeling  stimuli.  .  .  .  As  soon  as 
any  experience  arises  which  has  an  affinity  with  the  feeling  of 
sweet,  or  sour,  or  bitter,  the  same  movements  are  executed  which 
would  result  from  the  taste  in  point.  .  .  .  Disgust  is  an  incip- 
ient .  .  .  retching,  limiting  its  expressions  often  to  the  grimace 
of  lips  and  nose ;  satisfaction  goes  with  a  sucking  smile,  or 
tasting  motion  of  the  lips.  The  ordinary  gesture  of  negation^ — 
among  us,  moving  the  head  about  its  axis  from  side  to  side — 
is  a  reaction  originally  used  by  babies  to  keep  disagreeables  from 
getting  into  their  mouth,  and  may  be  observed  in  perfection  in  any 
nursery." 

2  'Primitive  language  was  largely  a  gesture-language.  Since 
the  spoken  words  gave  only  a  partial  account  of  the  event  de- 
scribed, they  were  eked  out  by  movements  of  hand  or  feature. 
And  foremost  among  these  movements  were  the  movements  that 
correspond  to  the  metaphor.  The  successful  hunter  actually 
licked  his  lips,  and  seemed  to  suck  a  sweet  morsel ;  the  unsuccess- 
ful drew  his  lips  sideways,  as  if  he  were  trying  to  taste  as  little 
as  possible  of  his  sour  draught. 

"Now  we  begin  to  see  where  the  argument  is  taking  us.  Cer- 
tain processes  in  the  emotion  .  .  .  suggest  a  metaphor,  by  simul- 
taneous association ;  and  the  metaphor  brings  a  movement  with 
it.  As  language  develops,  the  metaphor  is  lost :  it  is  no  longer 
necessary.  But  the  movement  persists.  When  the  emotion  comes, 
the  movement  comes  with  it.  The  movement  survives,  partly  be- 
cause of  its  intrinsic  fitness  to  communicate  to  others  a  knowl- 
edge of  our  emotion,  and  partly  because  gesture  cannot  change  as 
language  can." 

We  have  many  gestures  that  exhibit  the  metaphorical 
character ;  as,  the  wide-flung  hands  expressive  of  welcome 
or  liberality,  the  tossing  motion  expressive  of  carelessness, 
the  palm  thrust  forward  expressive  of  repelling,  the  up- 
lifted hand  expressive,  in  various  positions,  of  nobility, 
aspiration,  or  reverence. 

I  have  gone  so  far  in  considering  the  origin  of  ex- 
pressive action,  not  only  to  show  how  broad  and  universal 
is  its  appeal,  but  also  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  second 
and  chief  reason  for  gesturing ;  and  that  is — 

The  speaker  needs  gesture  to  free  him  from  restraint 

1  James,  Psychology:  Briefer  Course,  p.  389. 

2  Titchener,  Primer  of  Psychology,  p.  148. 


GESTURE 


471 


and  bring  him  into  a  normal  condition  on  the  platform. 

More  and  more  this  reason  impresses  me  as  a  teacher. 
Students  never  find  themselves  as  speakers,  never  escape 
the  bonds  of  restraint,  never  become  really  direct  and 
communicative,  until  they  gesture.  It  is  unnatural  not 
to  gesture  in  any  wide-awake  discourse.  Any  real 
speaker  would  be  in  distress  if  compelled  to  restrain 
gesture.  One  might  as  well  run  a  race  with  one's  hands 
tied.  We  begin  to  use  gesture  in  earliest  infancy.  Chil- 
dren gesture  a  great  deal.  That  they  gesture  less  as 
they  grow  older  is  due  in  part  to  constant  checking. 
Their  gestures  knock  over  bric-a-brac,  and  ^'Don't!''  is 
heard  from  morn  till  night.  Habits  of  restraint  are 
formed.  We  learn  that  it  is  not  best  to  express  every 
thought  and  feeling  that  comes.  But  we  never  cease  to 
use  gesture;  not  even  the  more  noticeable  motions  of 
hands  and  arms.  It  is  amusing  to  be  told  by  students 
that  they  do  not  gesture  in  conversation.  Contradict 
them  and  force  them  to  strong  assertion,  and  they  never 
fail  to  make  a  vigorous  movement  to  enforce  their  denial. 
One  student  repeated  this  gesture  three  times  in  succes- 
sion, though  consciously  trying  to  restrain  the  action 
and  laughing  at  himself  for  his  absurdity.  Every  man 
makes  innumerable  movements,  and  these  increase  as  he 
warms  up  in  his  talk.  And  this  brings  us  to  a  third 
reason  for  gesturing. 

We  are  bound  to  gesture  whether  we  will  or  no ;  if  not 
well,  then  ill.  If  we  are  alive  to  our  work,  the  im- 
pulse to  action  will  be  present  and  will  show  itself  some- 
how; in  uneasy  twitchings,  starts  of  the  hands,  restless 
shifting  of  feet  and  position,  or  fumbling  with  clothing. 
Repression  will  show  itself  in  rigidity.  All  this  may 
itself  be  called  gesture ;  for  all  appeals  to  the  eyes  of  the 
audience,  and  seems  to  cry  aloud,  ''See  how  repressed, 


472 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


how  nervous,  how  awkward  I  am!"  It  is  much  better 
to  give  rein  to  the  natural  impulses  and  use  the  hands 
to  emphasize  thought  than  to  examine  the  edge  of  one's 
coat  or  to  hitch  up  one 's  trousers.  True,  the  hands  may- 
be stuck  in  one's  pockets  or  held  in  leash  at  the  back; 
but  these  are  not  attitudes  always  becoming  to  young 
speakers,  to  say  nothing  of  the  loss  of  expression  and 
freedom.  Besides,  hands  and  arms  are  only  one  part 
of  gesture. 

To  suppress  gesture  is  to  suppress  feeling.  We  have 
been  assuming  a  speaker  alive  to  his  task,  really  trying 
to  express.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  a  speaker  can  remain 
in  that  condition  long,  if  he  repress  gesture.  Gripping 
one's  chair  is  a  familiar  device  for  keeping  cool.  As 
we  learned  in  Chapter  V,  repression  of  feeling  is  often 
the  death  of  feeling;  gestural  expression  will  heighten 
or  even  produce  the  appropriate  feeling.  The  following 
is  by  a  writer  not  committed  to  the  James-Lange  theory 
of  emotion : 

^^'When  Deerslayer  caught  the  tomahawk  hurled  at 
him,  4iis  hand  was  raised  above  and  behind  his  own 
head,  and  in  the  very  attitude  necessary  to  return  the 
attack.  It  is  not  certain' — notice  the  sentence — 
*  whether  the  circumstance  of  finding  himself  in  this 
menacing  posture  and  armed  tempted  the  young  man 
to  retaliate,  or  whether  sudden  resentment  overcame  his 
forbearance  and  prudence. '  Cooper  has  realized  the  un- 
doubted fact  that,  given  the  attitude,  the  emotion  might 
come  of  itself." 

Try  this:  Assert  to  a  friend,  real  or  imaginary,  some  simple 
fact,  just  saying,  This  is  a  fact.  Say  it  again  with  an  emphatic 
stroke  of  the  hand.  Say  it  again,  with  much  abandon,  banging 
your  desk  vigorously  with  your  first. 

iTitchener,  Primer,  p.  146. 


GESTURE 


47S 


The  impulse  to  gesture.  From  what  has  been  said  it 
should  be  clear  that  gesture  should  spring  from  impulse, 
and  not  be  mere  mechanical  motions  made  by  rule  or 
imitation.  It  should  be  real  expression, — outward  re- 
sponse to  inner  impulse.  All  ideas  and  all  feelings  are 
motor.  If  we  center  our  attention  upon  the  ideas  of  our 
speech  and  if  we  are  in  the  spirit  of  what  we  are  saying, 
we  shall  have  impulses  to  action.  And  if  our  attention 
centers  most  strongly  upon  major  points,  our  gesture 
impulses  will  be  strongest  at  those  points;  and  the 
anxious  question  of  the  beginner,  Where  shall  I  ges- 
ture?'' will  be  answered.  Gesture  being  in  its  nature 
emphatic,  since  it  is  an  added  means  of  expression,  should 
mark  only  ideas  worthy  of  emphasis. 

If  we  were  perfectly  normal  beings,  this  might  be  al- 
most enough  to  say  on  the  subject.  But  we  are  not 
normal.  There  is  habitual  restraint  and  repression. 
We  have  habits  of  making  a  few,  limited  movements )  and 
we  say  others  do  not ' '  feel  natural. ' '  We  are  restrained 
by  self -consciousness.  We  may  be  stiff  and  awkward  off 
the  platform,  and  more  so  on  the  platform.  Hence  some 
training  becomes  necessary,  in  order  that  the  impulse  to 
gesture  may  have  a  fair  chance ;  and  later  it  may  be  de- 
sirable, after  freedom  has  been  gained,  to  somewhat 
prune  the  natural  action. 

First  stage  of  gesture  training.  Gesture  training 
should  not  be  hurried,  and  the  first  stage  should  be 
limited  to  gaining  freedom  and  responsiveness  to  the 
impulses.  As  a  first  step,  just  try  to  stop  restraining 
yourself.  Don't  stick  your  hands  in  your  pockets  or  be- 
hind your  back;  for  this  has  the  effect  of  tying  them 
up.  Let  them  hang  freely  at  your  sides.  To  be  free  re- 
quires that  there  be  no  nervous  clutching,  no  doubling 


474 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


up,  no  fussing  with  clothing,  no  rigid  holding  at  the  sides. 
The  hands  should  swing  as  loosely  as  when  you  are  walk- 
ing. Then  speak  something  of  a  vigorous  character,  ex- 
temporized or  memorized,  your  own  ideas  or  a  bit  from  a 
selection.  Let  yourself  go ;  try  hard  to  express  the  idea 
to  your  imaginary  audience.  If  you  can  get  away  from 
self-consciousness,  something  will  happen  in  the  way  of 
gesture.  This  something  may  consist  of  very  queer 
motions.  Never  mind;  encourage  them,  and  go  on  talk- 
ing in  an  exaggerated  way.  If  nothing  comes  of  it,  lift 
your  hand  up  with  a  free  movement  from  the  shoulder 
and  speak  a  vigorous  paragraph  without  taking  it  down. 
It  will  be  strange  indeed  if  your  hand  does  not  do  some- 
thing. Do  not  try  to  make  it  do  anything  in  particular. 
Trust  your  muscles ;  they  know  more  about  gesture  than 
you  do ! 

Poise.  Gesture  is  often  checked  by  the  restrained 
position  in  which  one  stands.  It  is  important  to  stand 
in  good  poise.  To  be  poised  is  to  stand  easily  erect, 
without  limpness  or  slouchiness  and  without  waste  of 
muscular  effort.  The  chin  is  neither  thrust  forward  nor 
drawn  in,  the  chest  is  active,  up,  alive  (whatever  term 
you  please),  the  hips  thrust  neither  forward  nor  back- 
ward, the  weight  borne  directly  over  the  hips  and  all 
resting  on  the  balls  of  the  feet.  The  weight  may  be 
borne  on  both  feet  or  on  either  foot ;  but  there  must  be  no 
sagging  in  either  hip.  The  feet  should  not  ordinarily 
be  held  together,  or  on  a  line,  nor  yet  far  apart.  In  this 
position  it  is  possible  to  transfer  weight  from  one  foot  to 
the  other  without  effort ;  hence  one  is  free  to  step  or  turn 
easily  in  either  direction,  without  walking  over  one's 
self.''  And  this  freedom  is  of  first-class  importance  to 
good  action. 

Free  body  action.    Gesture  is  much  more  than  move- 


GESTURE 


47^ 


ments  of  hands  and  arms;  the  simplest  gesture  affects 
the  whole  body,  and  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  awkward- 
ness, stiffness  and  the  put-on"  effect,  is  failure  of  the 
body  to  yield  so  as  to  produce  harmonious  action.  More- 
over, if  the  body  is  not  free  to  turn,  if  the  feet  are 
fastened  to  the  floor,  the  speaker  as  he  turns  to  various 
parts  of  his  audience,  will  get  into  twisted  attitudes, 
which  are  not  only  awkward  but  give  him  a  feeling  of 
restraint.  There  is  a  constant  need  of  adjustment  by 
changing  the  position  of  the  feet  and  shifting  weight. 
These  movements  are  usually  very  slight  and  are  uncon- 
scious when  one  is  poised.  They  are  only  the  natural 
movements  which  belong  to  good  bearing  off  the  plat- 
form. Without  them  a  speaker  is  likely  to  fall  into  the 
swing  of  a  torsion  pendulum ;  or  if  he  does  not  turn  his 
body  at  all,  his  head  will  move  like  an  advertising  au- 
tomaton in  a  show  window. 

Another  bad  result  of  having  one 's  feet  metaphorically 
bolted  to  the  floor  is  that  of  facing  most  of  the  time  in 
one  direction;  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  turn  without 
foot  adjustment  puts  a  twist  in  the  knee  joints  which 
one  unconsciously  relieves  by  quickly  turning  back. 
And  as  a  speaker  who  stands  ^stock  still  usually  has  a 
favorite  position  for  his  feet,  he  is  liable  to  acquire  the 
habit  of  looking  at  one  side  of  his  audience,  with  mere 
glances  at  the  rest. 

The  chest  is  a  point  of  great  importance  to  poise  and 
free  action.  One  should  feel  it  as  the  center  of  energy. 
This  gives  a  feeling  of  buoyancy  and  easy  strength  which 
is  most  helpful  to  the  gesture  impulse.  One  is  not  likely 
to  feel  like  gesturing  when  in  a  sagging  or  awkward 
position. 

Certain  exercises  will  be  helpful  in  gaining  the  poise, 
freedom  and  coordinated  action  needed.    These  may  be, 


476 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


and  usually  are,  very  silly  movements  in  themselves; 
but  so  are  the  exercises  that  musicians  or  athletes  go 
through  in  preparation,  or  the  setting-up ' '  exercises  of 
military  drill.  But  anything  that  is  needed  is  not  silly. 
The  exercises  described  below  should  be  practised  per- 
sistently ;  for  it  cannot  be  expected  that  a  little  practice 
will  overcome  the  habits  of  a  life-time.  Practise  them 
with  the  room  filled  with  fresh  air,  and  they  will  be 
found  restful  after  hard  study. 

There  should  be  no  misunderstanding  about  these 
exercises.  They  are  not  gestures  and  any  practice  upon 
a  handy  set''  of  motions  as  gestures  would  be  vicious. 
These  exercises  are  simply  to  aid  in  gaining  ease,  free- 
dom and  responsiveness  to  impulse,  and  in  breaking  up 
set  habits,  such  as  making  one  or  two  movements  monoto- 
nously ;  and  in  making  all  natural  motions  seem  natural. 
A  very  great  variety  of  movement  is  possible,  and  the 
greatest  possible  variety  of  movement  should  be  prac- 
tised. The  student  can  readily  add  to  the  exercises 
here  given,  after  these  have  been  mastered.^ 

Work  out  the  exercises  as  you  read.  They  will  not 
then  prove  to  be  so  complicated  as  they  may  at  first  ap- 
pear. Go  through  them  deliberately,  with  your  mind  on 
what  you  are  doing;  and  repeat  each  exercise  several 
times.    Do  the  exercises  twice  a  day  for  a  long  period. 

Exercises  for  Poise 

1.  Sit  in  an  armless  chair  of  fair  height,  without 
touching  the  back,  with  head  erect,  feet  resting  easily 
but  squarely  on  the  floor,  arms  relaxed  in  the  lap,  and 

1  The  exercises  in  this  chapter  which  are  "set  solid,"  and  those 
in  the  chapter  on  Voice  Training,  are  by  my  colleague,  Pro- 
fessor G.  R.  Muchmore.  He  wishes  it  stated  that  most  of  them 
are  drawn  from  his  work  at  the  School  of  Expression,  Boston; 
but  that  since  he  has  set  down  but  a  portion  of  those  used  in  that 
school,  has  added  some,  and  has  modified  others  as  a  result  of 
his  college  teaching,  he  does  not  wish  by  this  acknowledgment  to 
make  Dr.  Curry  responsible  for  this  production. 


GESTURE 


477 


the  chest  expanded  but  not  strained.  (Expansion 
should  be  in  all  directions ;  not  merely  forward  with  con- 
traction at  the  back.)  Move  gently  forward  and  back 
and  from  side  to  side,  until  the  position  is  found  in 
which  the  body  seems  to  remain  erect  with  the  slightest 
effort.    This  may  take  repeated  trials. 

2.  Keeping  the  feeling  of  poise  gained  in  Exercise  1, 
stand  easily  erect,  with  the  heels  together,  letting  the 
toes  find  a  comfortable  position  with  the  weight  well  for- 
ward on  the  balls  of  the  feet.  Focus  the  attention  at 
the  notch  of  the  sternum  and  slowly  rise  on  the  toes,  and 
at  the  same  time  lift  the  arms  to  a  lateral  horizontal 
position ;  sustain  until  there  is  something  of  the  feeling 
of  lightness  one  has  when  up  to  the  arm  pits  in  water; 
then  return  slowly  to  the  former  position,  keeping  the 
weight  well  under  control.  Do  not  push  the  hips  for- 
ward or  let  the  body  rest  back  on  the  heels. 

3.  Take  the  position  described  in  Exercise  2  and 
slowly  move  toward  the  right  until  the  weight  is  wholly 
on  one  foot  and  the  other  foot  rests  lightly  on  the  floor. 
Place  the  free  foot  as  far  as  possible  to  the  left  without 
disturbing  the  body  or  stiffening  the  leg,  then  slowly 
move  the  body  toward  the  free  foot  until  the  weight  is 
well  over  it,  and  it  has  become  the  supporting  or 

strong"  foot.  Place  the  free  foot  forward  and  slowly 
move  the  weight  forward  over  it.  Place  the  foot  now 
free  to  the  side  and  move  the  weight  over  it;  move  the 
foot  now  free  back,  and  transfer  the  weight.  The  move- 
ment can  now  be  made  in  any  direction. 

Exercises  for  Eelaxation 

4.  Whole  body.  Stand  erect  and  let  the  head  sink 
forward  on  the  chest ;  then  let  the  shoulders  droop,  and 
the  arms,  hang  limp.  Now  slowly  fold  the  spine  from 
the  top  downward,  being  sure  that  the  head  leads  at  all 
times.  Do  not  bend  the  knees  or  strain  the  muscles  of 
the  legs.  Unfold  the  body,  being  sure  that  the  move- 
ment begins  at  the  hips,  that  the  head  follows,  and  that 
the  arms  and  shoulders  come  gradually  into  the  normal 
position. 


478 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


If  these  directions  are  followed,  the  head  will  be  the 
last  part  of  the  body  to  assume  an  erect  position.  Faults 
to  be  avoided  in  the  execution  of  this  exercise  are,  in 
folding,  a  hinge  movement  at  the  hips  with  a  straight 
back,  and,  in  the  unfolding  movement,  cramping  the 
neck  and  lifting  the  shoulders,  thereby  making  it  neces- 
sary to  let  them  drop  at  the  completion  of  the  exercise. 

5.  Jaw.  Standing  or  sitting  erect,  let  the  head  drop 
forward  on  the  chest  as  if  asleep ;  relax  the  jaw,  tongue, 
eyelids  and  facial  muscles.  Focus  the  attention  at  the 
base  of  the  neck  behind,  being  sure  that  there  is  no  un- 
necessary muscular  exertion,  and  slowly  lift  the  head  to 
a  normal  position, — the  mouth  at  this  point  should  be 
open  at  least  an  inch, — then  let  the  head  back  as  far  as 
possible,  then  bring  it  forward  to  an  erect  position. 

6.  Neck,  From  the  forward  position  of  the  head  de- 
scribed in  Exercise  5,  slowly  roll  the  head  around,  de- 
scribing as  large  a  circle  as  possible.  Keep  the  face 
forward ;  see  that  neck  muscles  not  necessarily  used  are 
relaxed ;  and  that  the  pivotal  point  is  at  the  base  of  the 
neck.    Repeat  in  the  reverse  direction. 

7.  Arms,  a.  Stand  erect,  with  the  weight  forward, 
arms  lifted  straight  to  the  front,  palms  down.  Let  the 
arms  fall  lifelessly  to  the  side  and  swing  as  a  result  of 
their  own  momentum. 

6.  Place  the  arms  parallel  above  the  head  with  the 
palms  in,  and  let  them  fall. 

c.  Extend  the  arms  to  a  lateral  horizontal  position, 
and  let  them  fall  lifelessly. 

d.  Place  the  arms  as  in  c;  let  the  fingers  relax,  then 
the  forearm,  bending  at  the  elbow,  then  the  upper  arm. 

e.  Reverse  c?,  beginning  by  lifting  the  shoulders 
slightly.  Energize  the  muscles  of  the  upper  arm,  with 
the  forearm  pendent;  energize  the  muscles  of  the  fore- 
arm, then  of  the  wrist,  and  lastly  of  the  fingers. 

8.  Wrists,  a.  With  the  upper  arms  at  the  side,  fore- 
arms lifted  at  right  angles  and  palms  down,  shake  the 
forearms  in  such  a  way  that  the  hands  move  freely  at 
the  wrist  joints. 


GESTURE 


479 


6.  Repeat  with  the  palms  up. 

9.  Fingers.  Grasp  the  left  hand  with  the  right  by 
placing  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  in  the  palm  of  the 
left  and  the  fingers  on  the  back;  shake  the  left  hand 
until  the  fingers  and  thumb  move  limply  at  their  base. 
Reverse  the  hands  and  repeat. 

10.  Legs.  a.  Stand  well  poised  on  one  foot  on  the  edge 
of  a  platform  or  a  step  and  let  the  other  foot  hang  over 
the  edge  until  it  is  felt  as  a  dead  weight ;  then  lifting  it 
forward  let  it  fall  and  swing  with  its  own  momentum. 
Do  not  allow  the  body  to  slump  on  the  hip  of  the  strong 
side. 

6.  Stand  on  the  floor  with  the  weight  on  one  foot  and 
lift  the  free  foot  forward  w^ith  the  lower  leg  dangling 
from  the  knee,  then  let  it  drop;  lift  the  leg  to  the  side 
and  let  it  drop ;  back,  and  let  it  drop ;  across  the  strong 
leg  in  front,  and  let  it  drop. 

Exercises  for  Coordination 

11.  a.  Standing  with  the  weight  on  one  foot,  place  the 
free  foot  at  the  side,  and  the  arm  of  the  same  side  across 
the  body  till  the  finger  tips  touch  the  opposite  shoulder ; 
then  simultaneously  unfold  the  arm  to  a  lateral  horizon- 
tal position  and  cross  the  strong  foot  with  the  free  foot. 
Reverse  and  repeat. 

&.  To  Exercise  a  add  a  pivotal  action  of  the  head  from 
side  to  side  in  the  direction  that  corresponds  to  the  move- 
ment of  the  foot  and  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  arm. 

12.  Stand  with  the  weight  on  one  foot,  arms  lifted 
and  the  tips  of  the  fingers  touching  the  chest.  Step 
firmly  forward  and  at  the  same  time  unfold  the  arms 
to  a  lateral  horizonal  position.  Carry  this  unfolding 
movement  out  to  the  very  tips  of  the  fingers  and  see  that 
the  body  is  well  supported  on  the  forward  foot. 

Repeat,  starting  with  the  weight  on  the  other  foot. 
Repeat,  unfolding  the  arms  at  an  angle  of  about  for- 
ty-five degrees  from  the  horizontal. 

13.  a.  Group  the  four  fingers  of  the  hand  closely  about 
the  thumb  and  slowl}^  unfold  the  fingers,  initiating  the 


480 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


movement  at  the  center  of  the  palm.  See  that  all  fin- 
gers are  moving  in  opposition  to  the  thumb,  continuously 
and  simultaneously,  and  at  about  equal  distances,  until 
the  whole  hand  is  completely  expanded.  Do  not  lay 
the  thumb  back  in  a  plane  with  the  palm. 

6.  From  this  expanded  condition,  slowly  close  the 
haild,  this  time  initiating  the  action  at  the  tips  of  the 
fingers,  until  they  group  again  about  the  thumb.  The 
fingers  should  not  be  stiff  or  cramped  at  any  time. 

14.  a.  Stand  well  erect,  slightly  forward  on  the  right 
foot,  stretch  the  right  arm  forward  and  describe  with 
the  hand  a  figure  eight  lying  on  its  side.  Move  the  hand 
in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  arrows  in  the  accom- 


panying cut.  Let  the  movement  be  initiated  largely  at 
the  shoulder.  Do  not  exaggerate  the  sway  of  the  body 
too  much,  but  let  it  respond  easily  to  the  movement  of 
the  arm,  the  extent  to  which  the  body  moves  depending 
mainly  on  the  size  of  the  figure  described. 

Kepeat  with  the  left  arm;  then  with  both  arms;  then 
with  the  arms  moving  in  opposition  to  each  other.  Make 
the  figure  now  large  and  now  small. 

6.  Repeat  the  figure  with  the  arms  extended  laterally, 
first  with  either  arm,  and  then  with  both  arms. 

c.  Repeat  occasionally  with  the  movement  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  arrows. 

15.  a.  Stand  with  the  weight  on  the  left  foot  and  place 
the  right  foot  slightly  forward  in  a  relaxed  condition; 
focus  the  eyes  on  a  definite  point  to  the  right,  turn  the 
head  till  it  faces  in  the  same  direction;  place  the  right 
foot  slightly  behind  the  left  and  transfer  the  weight 
back  on  it,  and  at  the  same  time  relax  the  left,  which 
should  be  allowed  to  adjust  itself.  Do  not  lift  it.  The 
eyes,  head,  body  and  feet  should  now  face  directly 
toward  the  point  first  selected. 

1),  With  the  weight  on  the  right  foot  back^  turn  the 


GESTURE 


481 


eyes  to  the  right  to  a  definite  point,  then  the  head ;  turn 
the  left  heel  out  by  pivoting  on  the  ball  of  the  foot,  and 
immediately  follow  this  action  by  transferring  the  weight 
to  the  left  foot.    Let  the  right  foot  adjust  itself. 

Kepeat  a  and  &  alternately  until  a  complete  circle  has 
been  made ;  then  reverse. 

c.  With  the  weight  on  the  left  foot  back,  turn  the  eyes 
to  the  right,  and  then  the  head,  and  step  forward  by 
replacing  the  right  foot. 

d.  With  the  weight  on  the  right  foot  forward,  look  to 
the  left,  turn  the  head,  and  step  forward  to  the  left. 
Movement  may  now  be  made  from  any  position  in  any 
direction.  These  exercises  should  be  practised  until 
great  facility  in  moving  in  any  direction  is  attained. 

Second  stage  of  gesture  training.  We  will  now  assume 
that  the  student  of  gesture  has  had  his  first  experience 
and  to  some  degree  gotten  over  his  self-consciousness, 
so  that  he  can  make  a  movement  without  stopping  his 
mental  processes;  that  he  has  gained  some  poise  and  re- 
sponsiveness. This  may  take  him  some  weeks.  We  may 
now  proceed  to  more  definite  work  which  would  not 
have  been  safe  at  first. 

First,  you  may  question  yourself  a  bit:  Do  your 
gestures  express  something?  Does  your  hand  feel  it  is 
talking  to  the  audience  ?  Does  it  seem  to  say.  Note  this 
point  in  particular;  or,  This  is  of  little  account;  or. 
This  is  displeasing;  or.  This  is  fundamental;  This  is 
noble,  inspiring;  Put  this  idea  from  you?  These  and 
many  other  things  your  action  can  say  and  you  should 
begin  to  feel  it  is  speaking. 

Try  now  to  express  shades  of  meaning.  Say  with  your 
hands:  This  is  a  fact.  This  is  a  fact,  but  I  am  indif- 
ferent to  it.  This  is  a  fact;  make  what  you  can  of  it. 
This  is  a  fact  and  you  must  accept  it.  Work  in  all  sorts 
of  moods  and  mental  attitudes.    You  can  easily  gather  a 


482 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


collection  of  varied  sentences.  Or  you  can  find  them  in 
numerous  texts. 

Turn  to  the  selection,  Who  is  to  Blame  (see  end  of 
Chapter  XIV.  I  assume  that  the  selection  has  been 
studied  before  this  stage  of  gesture  work  is  taken  up). 
Try  to  express  the  subtle  difference  between  taking  the 
words  '^a  man  may  vote  regularly/'  as  expressing  a  con- 
tempt for  voting,  or  as  asserting  that  even  regular  voting 
is  not  enough.  Try  to  express  with  your  hand  the  idea 
that  your  hearers  are  all  familiar  with  the  Pharisee  story. 
At  line  14  try  to  express  the  underlying,  Don't  you  see 
how  it  works  ?  In  lines  54-60  try  to  suggest,  first  the  in- 
difference, then  the  snobbish  aloofness,  then  the  positive 
but  secret  determination ;  and  then  in  the  lines  which  fol- 
low, drive  home  the  sweeping  denunciation.  These  are 
but  a  few  of  the  suggestions  that  might  be  made  for  this 
selection. 

Keep  on  at  the  effort  to  express  one  idea  or  feeling  till 
you  conquer  it.  Depend  upon  vivid  conception,  rather 
than  upon  planning  particular  movements.  Get  before 
a  big  mirror  and  learn  from  ^'the  only  honest  man." 
Do  not  be  afraid  of  the  sneer  at  the  ^booking-glass 
orator."  What  might  be  absurd  in  an  experienced 
speaker  is  not  necessarily  so  in  a  beginner.  Besides,  I 
am  not  asking  you  to  practise  the  gestures  of  a  speech 
you  are  to  deliver.  At  first  your  problem  was  to  do 
something,  to  throw  off  restraint.  Now  you  must  be- 
come acquainted  with  yourself  and  see  what  you  are 
doing.  Self-consciousness  is  bad,  but  it  is  best  to  settle 
some  things  once  for  all,  rather  than  to  carry  indefinitely 
an  uneasy  consciousness  of  awkwardness  and  mannerism. 
All  the  time  you  should  keep  up  practice  for  freedom  of 
action.  This,  with  a  developed  feeling  that  you  are  talk- 
ing-through your  gesture  and  a  knowledge  that  your 


GESTURE 


48S 


gestures  are  not  noticeable  as  gestures,  because  of  stiff- 
ness or  weakness  or  superfluous  movements,  will  soon 
bring  you  out  of  self-consciousness.  It  is  usually  im- 
possible to  improve  in  any  respect  without  an  unpleasant 
stage  of  self-consciousness. 

Some  rather  fanciful  gestures  may  be  useful  in  train- 
ing your  muscles.  Follow  with  eye  and  hand  the  flight 
of  a  bird  which  darts  about  in  a  large  auditorium  and 
at  last  escapes  through  an  open  window.  Follow  in  the 
same  way  the  course  of  a  troop  of  cavalry  which  is 
charging  over  broken  ground,  now  out  of  sight,  now  re- 
appearing, and  now  dashing  against  the  enemy.  Count 
fifty,  letting  every  fifth  numeral  stand  in  your  mipd  for 
a  distinct  idea  which  you  try  to  express  by  gesture. 

Speak  the  whole  of  the  first  paragraph  of  Who  is  to 
Blame,  keeping  at  least  one  hand  up  all  the  time.  This 
is  only  an  exercise,  of  course;  such  a  direction  for  real 
speaking  would  be  indefensible.  Still  you  should  have 
the  paragraph  thoroughly  at  command  and  speak  it  with 
as  much  meaning  as  you  can. 

Third  stage  of  gesture  training.  When  one  has  reached 
the  stage  where  he  feels  that  he  is  really  expressing 
through  action,  and  only  then,  he  may  venture  to  seek 
improvement  by  a  somewhat  closer  examination  of  the 
mechanism  of  gesture.  Observe,  first,  that  the  hand, 
when  sustained  in  the  air,  need  not  be  making  motions 
all  the  time,  though  it  should  not  be  limp.  At  the  side 
the  hand  should  be  free  from  all  impulses ;  but  when  up 
it  should  be  ready  for  action.  After  the  stroke  of  a 
gesture  the  hand  often  remains  at  rest,  holding  attention 
to  the  thought  presented,  until  at  the  end  of  the  pause 
the  next  idea  is  taken  up.  This  will  be  true  generally 
where  the  thought  is  positive  or  deliberative.  But  where 
one  does  not  wish  to  hold  attention  to  the  idea,  as  where 


484 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


it  is  waved  aside  as  unimportant,  there  is  no  appreciable 
rest.  When  the  gesture  is  finished  in  any  case,  the  hand 
should  drop  or  pass  into  the  preparation  for  a  new  ges- 
ture without  attracting  further  attention.  To  avoid 
attracting  attention  to  the  way  your  hand  comes  down, 
let  it  fall  before  or  after  a  pause,  not  in  the  pause. 

The  way  to  get  away  from  a  finished  gesture,  is  to 
forget  it ;  and  the  way  to  forget  it  is  to  think  of  the  next 
point.  It  helps  the  beginner  to  turn  to  another  part  of 
the  audience,  as  it  is  nearly  always  proper  to  do.  A 
slight  turn,  after  the  pause  and  just  as  you  begin  the  next 
phrase,  will  take  your  attention  and  the  attention  of  your 
audience  off  the  gesture,  and  your  hands  will  come  down 
without  either  stiffness  or  floppiness. 

This  suggests  an  answer  to  a  question  which  beginners 
often  ask :  How  shall  I  respond  to  the  natural  impulse 
at  many  points  in  a  speech  to  step  forward,  and  yet  not 
walk  off  the  platform?  There  is  no  real  danger  of  step- 
ping off ;  but  it  is  not  pleasant  for  the  audience  to  see  a 
speaker  leaning  over  or  pacing  back  and  forth  on  the  very 
edge.  A  man  of  good  bearing  can  easily  step  back  while 
speaking,  but  he  rarely  has  to  give  the  matter  attention. 
Being  free  in  his  movements,  his  feet  adjust  themselves 
under  him  as  he  turns  from  side  to  side.  These  move- 
ments may  carry  him  forward  or  backward.  The  drop- 
ping back  of  one  foot  after  the  other  may  carry  him  back 
a  considerable  distance  in  a  single  sentence,  yet  no  one 
notices.  Ordinarily  these  adjustments  are  slight,  and 
the  beginner  must  not  suppose  that  he  should  be  con- 
stantly moving  about.  Often  the  first  freedom  shows 
itself  in  restless  movements,  which  make  the  observer 
want  to  cry  out,  ' '  Stand  still ! ' ' 

But  there  are  usually  many  places  where  a  wide-awake 
speaker  will  have  a  true  impulse  to  move  forward;  as 


GESTURE 


485 


where  the  thought  is  particularly  positive  and  direct. 
Such  movements  are  themselves  expressive  gestures.  At 
times  the  speaker  steps  toward  the  right  or  the  left  side 
of  his  audience;  perhaps  as  he  takes  up  a  new  point. 
Such  a  movement  may  help  a  speaker  to  get  away  from 
a  completed  climax,  or  a  certain  feeling  or  attitude,  even 
from  a  high  pitch, of  voice.  The  change  helps  in  getting 
a  new  start,  nearer  the  colloquial;  and  relieves  both 
speaker  and  audience  from  the  tiresome  effect  produced 
by  one  who  stands  stock-still. 

Try  these  exercises:  Stand  facing  left  with  right 
arm  extended  to  the  left;  turn  to  right  letting  the  arm 
turn  with  the  body.  Again,  same  position,  swing  arm 
alone  to  right.  Stand  facing  right  with  right  arm  ex- 
tended right ;  turn  to  left  leaving  arm  unmoved.  Stand 
facing  left  with  both  arms  extended  left;  turn  to  right 
leaving  left  arm  unmoved  and  letting  right  arm  swing 
with  body.  Put  in  no  strokes  with  hands  at  all,  but  let 
them  freely  open.  Note  the  large  sweeping  character  of 
these  movements.  Turn  the  last  into  a  real  gesture  with 
the  words :  '  *  My  friends,  we  must  all  face  this  problem 
together."  Be  sure  to  let  your  eyes  sweep  over  the 
whole  of  your  imaginary  audience. 

Here  are  a  few  more  questions  by  means  of  which  you 
can  criticize  yourself :  Do  your  arms  swing  from  the 
shoulder  ?  Are  your  elbows  free  from  your  sides  ?  Does 
every  joint  from  shoulder  to  finger  tip  have  a  part  in 
your  gesture?  Do  your  linger  tips  describe  curves, 
rather  than  make  angles  or  thrusts?  Does  your  body 
respond  by  moving  now  with,  now  from  the  hand?  Do 
you  in  moving  forward,  backward,  or  sideways  with  a 
gesture,  really  respond  from  head  to  foot,  rather  than 
tip  and  twist  with  your  feet  stuck  to  the  floor?  Does 
your  bodily  response  prevent  straining  of  your  arms 


486 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


backward?  Do  your  arms  swing  freely  into  all  ranges, 
high  and  low?  Do  they  at  times  swing  high  in  prepa- 
ration ?  Do  they  start  soon  enough  to  permit  a  free,  full 
motion?  Do  your  gestures,  generally,  freely  reveal  the 
opened  palms?  (Do  not  try  to  hold  the  fingers  in  any 
position,  and  especially  do  not  hold  the  thumb  down.) 
Do  your  hands  sometimes  take  a  prone  position?  Can 
you  straighten  your  arm  and  open  your  hand  at  the 
finish  of  a  gesture  without  a  jerk  or  stab  ?  Is  the  stroke 
of  your  gesture  finished  on  the  accented  syllable  of  the 
emphatic  word?  Do  your  gestures  disappear  without 
flourish,  doubling  of  the  fist,  or  any  other  motion 
which  catches  the  eye?  Do  you  avoid  stepping  one  foot 
over  the  other  as  you  move  right  or  left,  especially  as 
you  leave  the  platform  ?  All  these  questions  you  should 
be  able  to  answer  in  the  affirmative. 

Kinds  of  gesture.  At  the  stage  of  work  which  we  now 
assume,  we  shall  be  aided  by  a  rough  classification  of 
gestures.  It  is  made,  however,  not  so  much  for  its  own 
value  as  because  it  furnishes  a  convenient  way  of  giving 
certain  suggestions  and  warnings.  One  should  have  at- 
tained a  good  deal  of  freedom  in  gesture  before  consider- 
ing these ;  for  in  the  early  part  of  his  work  he  should  not 
trouble  himself  about  absurdities,  but  rather  dare  to  be 
absurd. 

Locative  gestures.  First,  we  will  notice  gestures  which 
indicate  place,  with  reference  either  to  visible  objects  or 
imagined  objects.  Sentences  for  illustration:  This  is 
the  picture  I  refer  to.  '^On  they  went,  charging  up 
that  fearful  path,  eleven  against  seventy." 

Suggestions :  Avoid  unnecessary  pointing ;  as  in  say- 
ing, Ybu  and  me.  It  is  unnecessary  to  indicate  the  seat 
of  the  emotions  as  in  either  heart  or  stomach  every  time 
one  refers  to  a  feeling.    Beware  of  unfortunate  point- 


GESTURE 


487 


ing;  as  when  one  indicates  that  the  good  sheep  in  his 
audience  are  on  the  right  and  the  bad  goats  on  the  left, 
or  whirls  upon  the  chairman  as  a  dastardly  villain.  But 
note  that  much  depends  upon  where  the  speaker  looks. 
Since  the  audience  follows  the  speaker's  eyes  more  than 
they  do  his  hand,  they  are  not  likely  to  turn  to  an  indi- 
vidual when  the  speaker  says  dramatically,  ''Thou  art 
the  man ! ' '  unless  he  both  points  and  looks  at  some  un- 
fortunate. Do  not  look  fixedly  at  any  point  within  easy 
range  of  your  hearer's  eyes,  unless  you  wish  them  to 
look  there  also.  They  will  not  often  turn,  however,  to 
a  point  toward  the  back  of  the  room.  Do  not  look  at  a 
blackboard,  chart  or  picture  unless  you  wish  your  audi- 
ence to  look  there  at  that  moment. 

Do  not  look  at  a  commonplace  object,  such  as  a  white 
wall,  within  easy  range  of  their  eyes,  when  you  wish 
them  to  imagine  a  scene.  What  they  actually  see  checks 
their  imagination.  ''They  bore  their  hero  back  to  the 
little  village  where  he  first  saw  the  light,  back  to  the  little 
cemetery  on  the  hill,  and  they  buried  him  there,''  de- 
claimed a  student;  and  he  pointed  with  two  hands  and 
looked  at  the  floor.  Ever  since  that  hero  has  lain  buried 
in  a  hole  cut  through  the  dusty  old  matting  in  front  of 
that  platform.  You  will  observe  that  looking  definitely 
limits  imagination.  When  one  says.  From  north  to 
south,  meaning  merely  great  distance,  and  looks  at  a 
certain  point  as  north  and  another  as  south,  one  con- 
fines the  distance  within  the  room.  There  should  be  in 
such  a  case  an  indefinite  sweep  of  look  and  action,  which 
suggests.  As  far  as  you  like.  It  is  unnecessary  in  most 
eases,  unless  one  is  in  the  locality  referred  to,  to  pay 
strict  attention  to  points  of  the  compass ;  but  having  indi- 
cated the  right  as  east,  it  should  remain  east  to  avoid 
confusing  the  picture,  as,  for  example,  in  describing  a 


488 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


battle.  Do  not  confuse  the  literal  with  the  figurative. 
One  should  not  intimate  that  ''the  great  heart  of  the 
universe ' '  is  within  his  thorax. 

In  spite  of  all  these  ''don'ts"  the  locative  gesture  may 
helpful  in  pointing  out  literal  objects  and  in  tickling 
the  imagination  of  the  audience  when  one  is  describing 
scenes  and  actions.  Many  of  the  absurdities  referred  to 
are  due  to  trusting  to  mechanical  plotting  rather  than 
to  a  true  imaginative  conception.  And  the  same  remarks 
may  be  applied  to  absurdities  touched  upon  below. 

Illustrative,  or  picturing  gestures.  We  have  these  in 
the  simplest  form  when  gestures  accompany  such  sen- 
tences as,  The  cloud  was  this  shape,  He  walked  like  this, 
Throw  down  that  bauble,  He  stretched  forth  his  hand. 
The  illustrative  gesture  attempts  to  do  for  speech  in  a 
limited  way  what  an  illustrator  does  for  written  words. 
It  may  sometimes  stimulate  imagination  far  more,  but 
has  obvious  limitations.  Illustrative  gesture  may  also  do 
for  language  what  the  figure  of  speech  does :  it  is  at  times 
metaphorical,  as  when  one  speaks  of  a  lofty  ideal,  or  a 
foundation  principle. 

Suggestions :  Do  not  attempt  the  impossible.  Some- 
times dramatic  gestural  description  is  attempted  that  is 
too  complex,  even  when  truly  carried  out.  Sometimes 
the  fault  is  simply  inadequacy,  as  when  a  preacher  held 
up  his  own  pudgy  forefinger  in  saying,  ''the  finger  of 
God."  Do  not  reduce  the  figurative  to  the  literal.  This 
point  is  not  easy  to  slate,  and  has  beeiT  overstated. 
When  it  is  said  that  we  should  never  use  ' '  those  gestures 
which  indicate  a  literal  carrying  out  of  the  figurative 
language,"  this  might  be  understood  as  denying  our 
most  primitive  use  of  gesture,  and  as  forbidding  one  to 
make  a  wry  face  when  one  speaks  of  a  "bitter  pill,"  or 
as  a  criticism  on  the  Crow  Indian  who  told  me  the 


GESTURE 


489 


sermon  we  had  listened  to  was  a  high-up  talk/'  with 
hand  held  above  his  head.  Perhaps  it  is  sufficient  to  say, 
keep  always  in  mind  the  fact  that  a  figurative  statement 
is  figurative.  Also,  be  careful  with  faded  metaphors. 
A  speaker  extended  his  arm  when  he  mentioned  *^the 
arm  of  a  crane.''  I  saw  a  debater,  describing  what  he 
considered  the  repeated  encroachments  of  England  upon 
the  Transvaal,  move  down  the  platform  one  step  for  each 
encroachment. 

The  speaker  should  never  forget  that  he  is  not  an  actor. 
He  has  not  even  a  tin  sword  to  draw,  and  no  scabbard 
to  return  it  to;  and  to  provide  paraphernalia  is  rank 
absurdity.  When  the  great  orator  Burke,  wishing  to 
defy  his  enemies  in  Parliament,  drew  from  his  bosom  an 
actual  gauntlet  and  hurled  it  upon  the  floor,  he  was 
laughed  at  as  he  deserved.  Distinguish  also  the  narrator 
from  the  impersonator;  that  is,  there, is  a  difference  be- 
tween telling  about  another's  words  and  deeds  and 
speaking  in  his  person. 

"A  prominent  reader  recites  .  .  .  Whittier's  ^Maud  MuUer.' 
When  he  comes  to  the  lines : 

*She  stooped  where  the  cool  spring  bubbled  up, 
And  filled  for  him  her  small  tin  cup. 
And  blushed  as  she  gave  it,  looking  down 
At  her  feet  so  bare,  and  her  tattered  gown,' 

on  the  first  line  he  stoops  down  until  his  knuckles  almost  touch  the 
floor ;  in  the  second  line  he  dips  at  the  water ;  then  he  stands  up  and 
tries  to  blush  as  he  represents  Maud  Muller  giving  the  water  to  the 
Judge  on  horseback ;  and  lastly  he  makes  a  gesture  and  looks 
down  directing  the  attention  of  the  audience  to  his  own  feet  which 
are  not  *bare'  and  to  the  'tattered  gown'  which  is  not  there."  i 

When  speaking  the  actual  words  of  another,  imper- 
sonation in  tone  and  action  may  be  carried  farther ;  as  in 
telling  a  story  with  a  dialogue.  Note  also  that  when  an 
audience  is  aroused  they  will  accept  extremes  at  which 
in  the  beginning  they  might  laugh.    A  classmate  of 

1  Fulton  and  Trueblood,  Practical  Elocution,  p.  338. 


490 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


mine  ''brought  down  the  house"  by  accompanying  the 
opening  words  of  his  declamation,  ^ '  Roll  back  the  curtain 
of  history,"  with  a  magnificent,  double-armed  sweep. 
We  were  watching  him  critically  as  he  began ;  but  later, 
had  he  succeeded  in  arousing  us,  we  might  have  accepted 
his  gesture  without  a  thought.  Some  go  as  far  as  to 
say,  make  no  gesture  in  your  opening  words :  you  are  too 
self-conscious,  and  your  audience  is  not  yet  interested  in 
your  subject. 

Suggestive  gestures  are  frequently  better  for  the  public 
speaker  than  those  more  fully  illustrative.  If  Burke 
had  made  a  movement  just  suggesting  the  throwing 
down  of  a  gauntlet,  the  imagination  of  his  hearers  might 
have  formed  a  vivid  image  of  the  act,  with  no  hint  of 
absurdity.  As  an  over-elaborate  stage  setting  may  check 
imagination,  so  elaborate  gestures  may  also. 

Manifestive  gestures  is  another  classification  that  has 
been  made.  This  is  hardly  a  necessary  classification, 
but  serves  to  emphasize  the  use  of  gestures  to  manifest 
our  feelings  toward  an  object  or  idea ;  as  when  one  tosses 
off  a  proposal  as  of  no  account.  These  are  suggestive 
in  character,  but  also  partake  of  the  nature  of 

Emphatic  gestures.  These  are  the  most  serviceable 
gestures  of  all  for  the  speaker.  They  are  the  last  to  be 
thought  of  by  one  going  mechanically  to  work  to  deter- 
mine his  gestures,  for  they  do  not  necessarily  suggest 
any  picture  at  all.  Often  a  beginner,  with  a  false  idea  of 
how  to  begin,  says,  ''There  aren't  any  gestures  in  that 
speech, ' '  which  is  equivalent  to  saying.  There  is  no  force 
in  it.  All  gesture  is  emphatic  in  nature,  but  this  term  is 
applied  to  the  plain  gesture  which  simply  says.  What  I 
say  is  true.  It  may  move  in  any  direction  and  have 
much  variety.  The  principal  suggestion  to  be  made  is  to 
avoid  the  habit  of  making  the  same  movement  all  the 


GESTURE 


491 


time  or  gesturing  too  constantly;  for  either  of  these 
habits  soon  destroy  all  effect  from  gesturing.  Where 
every  idea  is  emphasized,  nothing  is  emphasized.  For 
the  rest,  the  general  training  advised  should  suffice. 
Any  speaker  v^ho  is  in  earnest  will  make  emphatic 
gestures. 

Conclusion.  It  is  difficult  to  discuss  gesture  on  paper 
without  making  the  matter  seem  mechanical.  But  if  you 
will  follow  out  the  course  of  training  as  laid  down  here, 
persistently  working  at  each  stage  without  hurrying  on 
to  the  next,  you  should  become  able  to  gesture  natu- 
rally and  effectively,  without  the  necessity  of  giving  the 
matter  a  thought,  although  it  may  always  be  best  to 
occasionally  observe  yourself  as  a  safeguard  against  bad 
habits.  If  you  insist  on  working  mechanically,  you  will 
have  a  much  poorer  chance  of  arriving  at  easy  effective- 
ness. If  you  refuse  to  work  at  all,  you  are  likely  to  limit 
much  your  powers  of  expression,  or  to  do  many  awkward 
and  absurb  things  which  detract  from  the  force  of  your 
speaking. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


PLATFORM  MANNERS 

Platform  manners  are  to  be  learned  chiefly  by  obser\^a- 
tion;  but  a  few  suggestions  may  relieve  the  embarrass- 
ment of  beginners.  We  may  say  that  a  speaker  should  be 
a  simple,  unpretentious  gentleman  on  the  platform;  but 
that  hardly  finishes  the  matter.  To  say  that  a  man 
who  '^has  something  to  say  which  he  very  much  wishes 
to  say/'  will  conduct  himself  properly,  is  to  utter  a  half 
truth.  The  matter  is  of  some  importance,  for  every  move 
a  speaker  makes  from  the  time  he  is  first  noticed  by  the 
audience,  may  affect  the  success  of  his  speech.  Perhaps 
people  ought  not  to  judge  him  by  his  appearance;  but 
many  will,  and  decide  that  they  do  or  do  not  like  him, 
or  have  confidence  in  him,  before  he  speaks  a  word. 
And  he  may  be  under  temptation  to  carry  off  his 
'^nerves''  with  a  swagger  or  a  slouch,  or  to  take  on  an 
apologetic  excuse-me-for-presuming  air.  To  step  for- 
ward, without  attracting  any  attention  to  how  he  does  it, 
but  with  an  air  which  impresses  upon  the  audience,  ^^I 
have  business  with  you,"  is  to  make  a  good  start.  Noth^ 
ing  will  help  so  much  in  this  as  to  be  conscious  of  having 
something  to  say  worth  saying,  and  to  lose  self-conscious- 
ness  by  thinking  of  the  purpose  of  speaking.  Add  to 
this,  modesty,  self-respect  and  respect  for  the  audience, 
and  a  speaker  will  probably  bear  himself  well ;  provided 
he  is  capable  of  good  bearing  off  the  platform. 

A  few  *'don'ts"  are  in  order:    Don't  follow  a  big 

492 


PLATFORM  MANNERS 


493 


curve  in  walking  forward;  and  don't,  on  the  other  hand, 
stride  down  the  back  of  the  platform  and  turn  front  with 
a  military  swing.  **A  straight  line  is  the  shortest  dis- 
tance between  two  points.''  If  open  to  you,  follow  this 
line  to  a  position  well  forward.  If  you  can  do  so  with- 
out twisting  your  neck,  look  at  the  audience  as  you  come 
forward.  The  position  of  the  chairman,  and  perhaps 
other  persons  on  the  platform,  may  interfere  with  carry- 
ing out  these  suggestions. 

The  chair  is  to  be  recognized  with  a  ''Mr.  Chairman,'' 
or  a  bow,  or  both.  Be  deliberate  over  this  recognition 
and  speak  in  a  firm  tone.  It  helps  you  in  maintaining 
self-possession,  in  finding  your  voice,  and  also  in  gaining 
the  ''sense  of  communication."  The  salutation  may  be 
given  from  the  side  of  the  platform,  or  one  may  walk  to 
the  front  and  then  turn  to  the  chairman.  The  audience 
too  should  be  recognized.  To  say  "Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men," is  not  only  good  form:  it  helps  the  speaker  strike 
the  conversational  note,  provided  he  makes  the  saluta- 
tion genuine.  The  objection  some  make  to  the  use  of 
this  salutation  by  a  student  speaker  seems  to  me  to 
spring  from  a  feeling  that  his  speaking  is  necessarily  un- 
real. It  is,  of  course,  good  form  merely  to  bow.  But  one 
hesitates  to  use  the  word  "bow,"  so  suggestive  is  it  of  the 
profound  obeisances  which,  how^ever  appropriate  for 
actors  and  musicians,  are  certainly  absurd  for  public 
speakers.  If  the  young  speaker  will  always  think  of 
his  bow  as  a  genuine  salutation,  such  as  he  might  give  an 
individual  for  whom  he  has  respect,  he  will  not  go  far 
wrong.  He  will  almost  certainly  go  right,  if  he  has 
gained  good  bearing. 

There  should  be  some  form  of  leave  taking,  usually  a 
bow  at  the  end.  Do  not  say  "I  thank  you."  I  have 
asked  many  intelligent  people  if  they  considered  this 


494 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


expression  a  desirable  convention,  and  they  have  in- 
variably said,  ''No."  Some  good  speakers  may  use  it; 
but  it  is  used  chiefly  by  those  who  feel  the  need  of  some- 
thing to  relieve  the  awkwardness  of  walking  away,  and 
who  object  to  the  overdone,  formal  bows.  Make  your 
bow  a  genuine  good-by,  and  it  will  feel  all  right.  ''I 
thank  you"  has  already  grown  into  a  meaningless  con- 
vention. If  you  have  some  social  reason  for  thanking 
your  audience,  do  so  in  less  abrupt  terms. 

Some  young  speakers  are  loath  to  recognize  the  audience  in  any 
way ;  but  they  would  not  begin  even  a  casual  conversation  with  a 
friend  on  the  street  without  some  salutation,  nor  leave  off  without 
some  form  of  farewell.  It  is  certainly  fitting  for  young  speakers 
to  show  respect  for  their  audiences ;  old  speakers  are  scrupulously 
polite.    One  must,  of  course,  adapt  one's  self  to  the  occasion. 

I  wish  to  add  a  few  more  ''don'ts":  Do  not  address 
every  imaginable  division  of  your  audience;  as,  ''Mr. 
Chairman,  Members  of  the  Republican  League  of  Jones- 
ville.  Citizens  of  Jonesville,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  and 
others."  There  may  be  special  reason  for  distinguishing 
some  group  present,  but  ordinarily  not  unless  it  is  present 
as  a  group.  Do  not  address  the  "Honorable  Judges" 
at  a  debate,  if  they  are  scattered  among  the  audience. 
Do  not  take  up  time  with  repeated  addresses  to  anybody, 
unless  you  have  some  purpose  to  serve. 

Don't  hang  over  a  desk  or  chair,  like  a  tired  horse 
over  a  hitching  post.  Don't  make  a  practice  of  leaning 
against  the  desk,  or  of  keeping  your  hands  in  your  pock- 
ets, or  of  indulging  in  any  other  "free  and  easy"  ac- 
tions. The  objection  is  not  that  these  are  necessarily 
offensive,  but  that  they  are  hardly  becoming  to  young 
speakers,  and  that  they  are  ways  of  yielding  to  nervous- 
ness. It  is  better  that  a  beginner  should  avoid  them. 
One  who  has  gained  poise  and  self-possession  is  not  likely 


PLATFORM  MANNERS 


495 


to  over-indulge  in  these  forms  of  relief.  As  you  turn  to 
leave  the  platform,  don 't  cross  your  legs  by  stepping  right 
with  the  left  foot  first,  or  left  with  the  right  foot  first. 
Don't  forget  to  be,  in  small  as  well  as  in  large  ways,  ''a 
gentleman  conversing. ' ' 

The  larger  matters  of  courtesy  to  opponents  and  to  audience 
have  been  considered  in  the  chapters  on  Persuasion. 

Duties  of  the  chairm^.  A  few  words  may  be  per- 
mitted here  concerning  the  manners  of  the  chairman. 
It  is  his  primary  duty,  not  to  impress  himself  upon  the 
meeting,  but  to  make  it  a  success.  He  should  not,  unless 
something  in  his  relation  to  the  situation  gives  him  a 
special  license,  indulge  in  long  talks  himself;  but  should 
limit  himself  to  what  will  expedite  business  and  help  the 
i;  speakers  to  get  into  touch  with  the  audience.  He  should 
not  attempt  to  forecast  what  a  speaker  is  about  to  say 
in  a  way  in  which  will  at  all  seem  to  dictate  the  course 
that  should  be  pursued,  or  that  will  detract  from  the 
force  of  the  speaker 's  remarks.  The  chairman  does  well 
to  consult  with  the  speaker  in  regard  to  what  might  be 
said  to  help. 

The  chairman  should  not  feel  bound  to  lavish  extreme 
compliments  upon  the  speaker.  These  may  be  very  em- 
barrassing. I  recall  hearing  a  man  who  had  borne  an 
honorable  part  as  a  brigadier  general  in  the  Civil  War, 
introduced  in  terms  which  implied  that  he  was  the  equal 
of  Grant  and  Lee.  It  was  difficult  for  the  speaker  to 
avoid  seeming  either  to  accept  this  fulsome  praise,  or  to 
be  ungracious  to  the  presiding  officer  while  rejecting  it. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  chairman  should  be  careful  in 
making  facetious  remarks  at  the  expense  of  the  speaker. 
While  much  seems  to  be  permitted  at  lively  banquets, 
and  some  toastmasters  seem  to  think  it  their  duty  to 


496 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


embarrass  the  speakers,  one  often  feels  that  the  limits  of 
good  taste  are  exceeded.  At  a  banquet  of  students  and 
professors  the  student  toastmaster  cracked  aged  jokes  at 
the  expense  of  certain  dignified  gentlemen  in  a  way  that 
made  one  apprehensive  when  he  arose  to  introduce  the 
last  speaker;  and  one  could  feel  the  relief  of  the  assem- 
blage when  he  said  only,  Gentlemen,  the  President  of 
the  University.''  Certainly  on  any  but  the  lightest 
occasions,  the  chairman  should  help,  not  embarrass,  the 
speakers. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


VOICE  TRAINING 

There  should  be  little  need  of  emphasizing  the  fact 
that  a  good  voice  is  of  great  value  to  the  public  speaker. 
We  know  that  a  good  voice  is  of  value  in  all  our  inter- 
course ;  and  the  work  suggested  below  is  just  as  good  for 
the  voice  in  conversation  as  in  public  speaking.  But 
especially  to  the  public  speaker  a  voice  that  is  distinct, 
pleasing,  expressive  and  that  will  endure  hard  work,  is 
a  great  help  and  a  great  satisfaction. 

The  prejudice  against  voice  training,  which  one  sometimes  meets 
with,  has  been  in  part  justified.  The  quack  has  been  particularly 
active  in  this  field,  making  a  pretentious  show  of  knowledge  that  is 
mostly  false,  and  especially  training  to  affectation.  Nevertheless 
voices  can  be  improved ;  and  there  are  to-day  men  and  women  com- 
I)etent  for  the  work,  both  in  their  scientific  knowledge  of  the  vocal 
organs  and  in  their  skill  to  teach.  I  have  asked  one  of  this  number 
to  prepare  the  exercises  given  below,  endeavoring  to  make  them  (1) 
brief,  (2)  sufficient  for  ordinary  needs,  (3)  inclusive  of  nothing 
not  fully  approved  by  science  and  experience,  (4)  safe  as  possible 
in  the  hands  of  those  not  highly  skilled. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  vocal  training  is  beneficial  to  the  health. 
I  know  of  no  one  who  more  enthusiastically  advises  this  training 
than  Andrew  D.  White,  who  considers  it  one  reason  for  the  long 
life  he  has  enjoyed,  now  some  fifty  years  longer  than  physicians 
prophesied  for  him  in  his  youth.  On  his  eightieth  birthday,  in  a 
message  to  the  students  of  Cornell  University,  he  wrote  among  "A 
Dozen  Maxims'*  this : 

'^Practice  inflating  your  lungs  for  five  minutes,  at  least  three 
times  a  day,  frequently  adding  vocal  exercises.  This  will  be  one  of 
the  best  safeguards  against  tuberculosis,  and  if  you  have  anything 
worth  saying  in  public,  your  audience  will  hear  you  and  be  glad  to 
listen.  ...  A  firm,  strong,  pleasing  voice  is  one  of  the  best  factors 
of  success,  both  in  and  after  college.  How  many  good  thinkers  I 
have  seen  fail  in  securing  attention  because  they  were  not  heard !" 

497 


498 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Qualities  desired.  First  must  stand  distinctness.  If 
we  are  not  heard  we  had  better  not  speak.  If  we^are  not 
heard  with  ease  we  waste  the  attention  of  our  hearers. 
Nothing  is  more  likely  to  make  an  audience  tired  and 
peevish  than  difficulty  in  hearing.  All  I  could  hear  was 
'  I, '  '1/  '1/  "  growled  a  man  as  we  came  out  from  a  lec- 
ture. The  speaker,  who  had  given  an  interesting  lecture 
on  a  work  for  which  he  is  famous,  had  not  used  unduly 
his  I's;  but  his  weak  voice  and  quick,  nervous  utterance 
were  inadequate  in  the  great  hall,  and  the  grumbler  had 
been  annoyed.  To  distinctness  should  be  added  strength 
of  voice ;  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  mere  loudness  will 
give  a  voice  carrying  power.  Many  speakers  and  many 
teachers  exhaust  themselves,  ruin  their  voices  and  annoy 
their  hearers  by  shouting  to  be  heard;  and  yet  their 
shouts  fail  where  a  quiet  tone  penetrates.  There  should 
be  more  reliance  upon  deliberation  and  clear-cut  utter- 
ance, with  full  vowels  and  well  formed  consonants.  And 
without  a  good  tone  to  work  with  all  else  is  difficult.  A 
teacher  in  whose  judgment  of  this  subject  I  have  great 
confidence,  lays  down  these  as  essentials  of  the  carrying 
power  of  the  voice:  the  right  amount  of  breath,  purity 
of  tone,  free  change  of  pitch  between  words,  distinct  ar- 
ticulation, vocal  quantity,  vocal  quality  and  loudness. 
We  see  that  the  matter  is  not  at  all  simple ;  but  we  are 
relieved  by  learning  that,  to  a  great  extent,  we  may  rely 
for  all  these  elements  upon  the  general  training  of  such 
exercises  as  those  below.  These  will  tend  to  bring  our 
speech  organs  into  a  normal  condition,  give  them  greater 
strength  and  freedom  of  action,  and  will  also  increase 
control  of  the  mechanism. 

Do  not,  in  seeking  distinctness,  practise  strange  mo- 
tions of  lips  and  tongue,  for  these  will  (unless  under- 
taken under  the  direction  of  a  skilled  teacher),  only  in- 


VOICE  TRAINING 


499 


crease  the  rigidity  of  those  organs.  Kather  seek  for  ease 
and  freedom  by  the  general  exercises.  And  do  not  prac- 
tise abnormally  hard  combinations  of  sounds;  certainly 
not  until  you  have  gained  a  good  deal  of  flexibility. 

For  endurance  rely  entirely  upon  the  general  training 
of  such  exercises  as  those  below,  which  will  give  free  nor- 
mal action,  and  upon  practice  in  speaking.  The  more 
the  voice  is  used,  if  well  used,  the  stronger  and  more  en- 
during it  should  become.  Responsiveness  of  voice  should 
also  come  from  the  training  prescribed  below.  Nothing 
is  more  trying  to  a  speaker  than  to  have  his  voice  fail 
to  express  what  is  in  his  mind  and  heart ;  and  few  sen- 
sations are  more  delightful  than  to  feel  and  hear  one's 
voice  responding  fully  and  freely.  To  be  responsive  a 
voice  must  be  flexible  and  free  in  inflection  and  range; 
and,  further,  it  should  have  quality  and  rich  and  varied 
tone  colors,  that  it  may  express  all  of  one's  varied 
thoughts  and  emotions.  A  voice  may  be  too  tight,  too 
limited,  too  hard  and  colorless  to  express  more  than 
cold  fact. 

One  warning  is  in  order:  If  you  admire  the  rich 
baritone  speaking  voice  and  have  but  a  light  tenor,  do 
not  try  to  change  your  voice  to  a  baritone  by  talking  in  a 
forced  tone.  You  will  only  get  a  throaty,  unmusical 
voice,  with  permanent  throat  trouble  as  a  probable  addi- 
tion. You  must  accept  the  voice  nature  gave  you  and 
improve  it.  And  you  can  improve  your  light  voice  by 
increasing  its  quality,  until  it  is  as  serviceable  as  a  bari- 
tone. A  high  voice  with  much  color  and  flexibility  will 
seem,  to  any  but  the  keenest  ears,  much  lower  than  it 
actually  is.  After  all,  Webster's  voice  is  described  as  a 
tenor,  and  Lincoln's  was  even  shrill  at  the  beginning  of 
a  speech,  though  more  musical  as  he  warmed  to  his 
work. 


500 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  teacher  has  far  less  trouble  with  those  whose  \ 
voices  are  naturally  high,  than  with  the  many  who  pitch 
their  voices  too  high  for  their  natural  range.  Each  per- 
son may  be  said  to  have  a  normal  keynote,  the  note  which 
is  easiest  for  him.  From  this  his  voice  ranges  up  and 
down,  usually  through  several  notes,  and  in  animated  dis- 
course through  more  than  an  octave.  And  this  free  move- 
ment of  the  voice  contributes  much  to  its  pleasantness  and 
its  expressiveness.  Now,  it  is  a  common  fault  to  establish 
an  abnormally  high  keynote,  from  which  the  voice  rises 
but  below  which  it  rarely  falls.  Instead  of  running  high 
and  low,  it  runs  high  and  higher;  thereby  greatly  de- 
creasing its  power  of  expression.  This  fault,  which  often 
becomes  a  habit,  seems  to  be  due  primarily  to  speaking  in 
a  strained  nervous  state,  in  which  there  is  failure  to  dis- 
criminate values  and  to  come  into  touch  with  one's 
audience.  When  one  finds  himself  speaking  in  this  way, 
he  should  stop  deliberately  and  seek  to  get  into  the  con- 
versational frame  of  mind.  The  teacher  can  often  break 
up  this  strained  manner  of  speaking,  by  asking  a  ques- 
tion about  subject-matter,  and  then  calling  the  student's 
attention  to  the  difference  beween  his  manner  of  an- 
swering and  the  manner  in  which  he  has  been  speaking. 
The  teachings  of  Chapter  II  and  XIII  are  in  point ;  and 
practice  on  exercises  13  and  14,  below,  will  prove  bene- 
ficial. 

Special  defects,  such  as  stammering,  lisping  and  in- 
ability to  produce  certain  sounds,  may  be  helped  and 
even  cured  by  the  general  training  here  outlined;  but 
usually  the  services  of  a  skilled  teacher  are  required.  In 
many  cases  stammering  can  be  cured, — really  cured,  not 
changed  into  a  singsong;  and  in  most  cases  relief  is 
possible. 


VOICE  TRAINING 


501 


The  preceding  should  not  be  taken  to  imply  that  the  skilled 
teacher  is  not  needed  in  every  phase  of  voice  training.  In  every 
department  of  our  work  he  is  needed,  but  in  no  other  department 
is  it  so  important  that  teacher  and  pupil  come  face  to  face  as  in 
voice  training.  The  best  of  exercises  are  easily  perverted,  and 
much  depends  upon  the  trained  ear.  It  is  because  of  this  fact  and 
because  some  successful  teachers  have  failed  to  make  themselves 
clear  when  devoting  a  whole  book  to  the  subject,  that  no  attempt  is 
made  here  at  a  brief  systematic  treatment.  Nevertheless  the  mat- 
ter is  too  important  to  pass  over  altogether ;  and  users  of  this  text 
will  find  it  convenient  to  have  some  exercises,  at  once  standard  and 
as  safe  as  possible,  laid  out. 

For  more  detailed  treatment  of  these  topics,  I  refer  especially  to 
Mind  and  Voice,  by  S.  S.  Curry,  Ph.D.,  a  very  successful  teacher 
of  voice,  The  Voice  and  Practical  Phonology,  by  W.  A.  Aiken, 
M.D.,  and  Voice  Production,  by  Wesley  Mills,  M.D.  For  the  very 
complex  problems  of  enunciation  and  articulation  we  have  the  work 
done  on  "Visible  Speech"  by  Alex.  Melville  Bell,  and  set  forth  in 
Sounds  and  their  Relations.  But  as  this  book  is  very  difficult,  it 
is  better  for  most  to  turn  to  the  popularization  of  his  work  in  the 
chapter  on  Molding  Tone  into  Words,  in  Curry's  Mind  and  Voice, 
Sweet's  Handbook  of  Phonetics  is  another  difficult  but  valuable 
work. 

Expression  is  voice  training.  We  should  observe 
that  in  a  sense  all  vocal  expression  is  voice  training. 
Persistent  practice  in  attempting  to  give  full  and  ade- 
quate vocal  interpretation  to  good  literature,  using  se- 
lections of  a  wide  range  of  feeling,  will  enrich  the  voice 
and  is  one  of  the  best  and  safest  forms  of  vocal  culture ; 
and,  it  may  be  added,  of  mental  culture. 

Practice  must  be  persistent.  All  voice  training  is  but 
folly  without  regular,  persistent,  intelligent  practice,  and 
the  older  one  is  the  more  practice  he  must  have.  If  you 
wish  to  improve  your  voice,  make  up  your  mind  to  prac- 
tise fifteen  minutes  twice  a  da}^,  as  a  minimum.  You 
will  not  miss  the  time,  for  you  will  find  the  exercises  a 
restful  change.  Do  not  practise,  however,  when  you  are 
tired  out  f  and*  never  practise  w^hen  your  mind  is  not 


502 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


alert.  I£  possible,  practise  where  you  will  not  fear  being 
overheard ;  for  to  practise  vocal  exercises  with  an  effort 
to  keep  them  subdued  may  injure  your  voice.  Freedom 
is  essential. 

The  exercises  given  in  the  chapter  on  Gesture  are  an 
excellent  preparation  for  voice  training,  and  should  be 
used  along  with  those  that  follow. 

Exercises  for  Breathing^ 

1.  Lie  on  your  back  fiat  on  the  floor.  Place  one  hand 
well  up  on  the  chest  and  the  other  across  the  body  just 
below  the  breast  bone.  Without  interfering  with  your 
breathing,  study  its  nature.  What  parts  of  the  torso 
move?  Is  the  greater  movement  under  the  upper  or  the 
lower  hand  ?  Is  your  breathing  regular  or  irregular ;  fast 
or  slow ;  deep  or  shallow  ?  Repeat  your  study  of  breath- 
ing while  standing  erect. 

2.  Lying  m  the  position  given  in  E:^ercise  1,  take  a 
slow  deep  breath  and  retain  by  maintaining  a  feeling  of 
expansion  or  slight  resistance  under  the  lower  hand, 
while  the  chest  remains  firm.  Relax  all  the  neck  muscles, 
and  do  not  attempt  to  control  the  breath  by  closing  the 
throat.  During  the  inhalation  do  not  ''push"  with  the 
diaphragm,  and  do  not  let  the  central  part  of  the  torso 
collapse  during  exhalation;  but  rather  let  the  muscles 
gradually  relax. 

Increase  from  day  to  day  the  depth  of  breathing.  To' 
facilitate  this,  count  mentally.  For  example,  inhale  dur- 
ing five  counts,  hold  the  breath  for  three  counts,  and  re- 
lease the  breath  during  five  counts.  Do  not  lengthen  the 
*'hold"  to  the  point  of  discomfort.  After  you  are  accus- 
tomed to  this  exercise,  take  it  while  standing,  and  while 
walking  about  the  street. 

3.  a.  While  lying  on  the  floor  with  the  arms  free  at  the 
sides,  take  a  full  easy  breath  at  the  center  of  the  body 
and  slowly  exhale  by  making  a  slight  noise  between  the 

1  The  exercises  iu  this  chapter  have  been  arranged  by  G.  B. 
Muchmore.    See  footnote  to  p.  47t>. 


VOICE  TRAINING 


503 


tongue  and  the  upper  teeth, — more  like  a  whistle  than  a 
hiss.  Make  as  little  noise  and  use  as  little  breath  as  is 
possible,  but  above  all  keep  the  escape  of  breath  regular. 

b.  Repeat  the  exercise,  using  the  vowel  ah  instead  of 
the  whistle. 

4.  Repeat  the  exercises  given  under  2,  3a  and  3&  while 
standing  on  the  toes,  with  the  arms  extending  slightly 
back  of  a  lateral  horizontal  position.  Keep  the  chest 
well  expanded. 

Expansion  of  the  Torso  with  Free  Breathing 

5.  a.  Lie  flat  on  the  floor;  place  one  hand  well  up  on 
the  chest  and  the  other  under  the  body  at  the  small  of  the 
back.  Separate  the  hands  by  muscular  expansion  of  the 
torso,  but  without  interfering  with  the  rhythm  of  the 
breathing.  Do  not  hold  the  breath  during  the  act  of 
expanding. 

6.  With  the  torso  thus  expanded,  repeat  exercises  2, 
3a  and  3&. 

6.  Stand  with  the  weight  well  forward  on  one  foot, 
with  the  other  resting  on  the  floor  behind  and  slightly 
supporting  the  body;  and  repeat  exercises  5a  and  56. 

Initiation  of  Tone 
Use  here  5  and  6  of  the  gesture  exercises. 

7.  Stand  erect  with  the  weight  well  forward  on  one 
foot,  chest  expanded ;  take  an  easy  full  breath  and  at  the 
same  time  allow  the  jaw  to  drop  and  the  throat  muscles 
to  relax.  Then  speak  immediately  and  quickly,  but  not 
loudly,  the  vowel  ah  without  inflection. 

Repeat  several  times,  taking  a  new  breath  for  each 
tone,  and  being  sure  to  release  the  surplus  breath  after 
each  tone. 

Make  several  tones  on  one  pitch  in  quick  succession; 
thus,  ah-ah,  ah-ah-ah,  etc.  These  should  be  repeated  on 
various  pitches  within  easy  range  and  with  gradually 
increased  range  and  volume. 


504^ 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Support  of  Tone 

8.  Observing  conditions  described  in  exercise  7,  sustain 
with  animation  the  vowel  ah^  stopping  the  tone  the  in- 
stant breath  control  is  lost  and  tone  quality  deteriorates. 

Repeat  on  various  pitches  within  easy  range,  gradu- 
ally increasing  the  range,  intensity  and  duration  of  the 
tones. 

9.  "With  good  body  and  breathing  conditions,  count  on 
a  sustained  pitch  and  with  a  single  breath  for  each  group, 
as  follows:  one;  one-two;  one-two-three;  one-two-three- 
four,  etc. 

Be  sure  that  there  is  a  definite  relaxation  of  the  dia- 
phragm and  the  associated  breathing  muscles,  after  each 
group,  and  a  definite  but  not  strained,  preparation  for 
the  next  group. 

Repeat  on  various  pitches  and  gradually  increase  the 
number  of  counts  in  a  single  breath. 

10.  Observing  good  conditions,  chant  some  rhythmical 
poem,  such  as  The  Brook,  or  The  Bells  of  Shandon. 
(See  selections  26  and  27  below.)  Begin  the  first  line  of 
each  stanza  on  an  easy  pitch,  and  begin  each  successive 
line  one  interval  higher.  Accentuate  the  correct  phras- 
ing and  give  a  definite  touch  to  each  word,  in  order  that 
the  thought  may  be  brought  out,  and  thus  keep  the  chant 
from  drifting  into  a  monotonous  sing-song. 

Vowels  ^ 

11.  Repeat  exercises  7  and  8,  using  all  the  vowel 
sounds  in  the  language. 

Consonants  ^ 

12.  Use  various  combinations  of  all  the  vowel  and 
consonant  sounds  in  the  language,  thus:  ah-la,  ah-ta, 
ah-ka,  etc.;  la-la,  pa-pa,  na-na,  etc.;  then  rhythmically 
thus,  la,  la-la-la,  la-la-la,  la,  la;  ka,  ka-ka-ka,  ka-ka-ka, 
ka,  ka,  etc. 

1  See  Curry's  Mind  and  Voice,  Chapter  VIII. 


VOICE  TRAINING 


505 


Use  various  pitches  with  frequent  chanpje  of  tempo 
and  volume.  Precise  and  accurate  movements  of  the 
speech  organs  are  necessary,  so  that  the  sounds  may  be 
clear-cut  and  distinct. 


13.  Sing  the  various  vowels  up  and  down  the  scale; 
then  skip  about  freely  from  pitch  to  pitch. 

14.  a.  Count  on  a  sustained  pitch  from  one  to  ten, 
being  sure  to  release  the  surplus  breath  after  each  count 
and  to  take  a  new  breath  for  the  next.  Kepeat  with  ris- 
ing inflections  on  each  count;  with  falling  inflections; 
with  alternate  rising  and  falling  inflections. 

6.  Count  in  groups  of  five  with  a  long  falling  inflec- 
tion on  one  and  the  other  four  with  shorter  but  definite 
inflections,  successively  falling;  with  a  short  rising  in- 
flection on  one,  long  falling  inflection  on  two,  and  the 
others  as  before,  etc.  Count  in  groups  of  five  with  a 
long  rising  inflection  on  one  and  w^ith  successive  rising 
inflections  on  the  others;  with  a  short  rising  inflection 
on  one,  long  rising  inflection  on  two,  and  the  others  as 
before,  etc. 

c.  Use  some  such  simple  sentence  as  the  following  (as 
an  exercise  in  voice  training,  not  in  reading)  :  saw 
George  this  morning."  ^'Did  you  see  George  this  morn- 
ing ? ' '    Use  as  much  range  and  flexibility  of  voice  as  you 


Range  and  Flexibility  op  Tone 


X 


\saw 


\Ge0r5e 


\morn  - 


506 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


have  under  your  control,  and  change  the  focus  of  atten- 
tion in  successive  repetitions  to  each  word  of  the  sen- 
tences.   Put  meaning  into  your  speaking. 

On  the  preceding  page  is  a  diagram  of  exercises  14a, 
14&  and  14c. 

Application  op  Exercises  to  Speech 

The  reading  and  speaking  of  selections,  such  as  are 
here  given,  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  all  voice  exer- 
cises. The  selections  should  be  practised,  not  carelessly, 
but  with  due  consideration  of  the  principles  laid  down 
in  preceding  chapters  on  attention,  imagination  and 
emotion. 

1.  What  ho,  my  jovial  mates !    come  on  !    we  '11  frolic  it 
Like  fairies  frisking  in  the  merrj'  moonshine  I 

—Scott. 

2.  A  song,  oh  a  song  for  the  merry  May ! 

The  cows  in  the  meadow,  the  lambs  at  play, 
A  chorus  of  birds  in  the  maple  tree 
And  a  world  in  blossom  for  you  and  me. 

3.  O  for  a  soft  and  gentle  wind ! 

I  heard  a  fair  one  cry ; 
But  give  to  me  the  snoring  breeze 

And  white  waves  heaving  high ; 
And  white  waves  heaving  high,  my  lads, 

The  good  ship  tight  and  free ; 
The  world  of  waters  is  our  home, 

And  merry  men  are  we.  — Cunningham, 

4.  Who  knows  himself  before  he  has  been  thrilled  with  indigna- 
tion at  an  outrage,  or  has  heard  an  eloquent  tongue,  or  has  shared 
the  throb  of  thousands  in  a  national  exultation  or  alarm? — Emer- 
son. 

5.    Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  the  west  wind  comes  freshening  down  the  bay  / 
Th«  rising  sails  are  filling,  give  way,  my  lads,  give  way. 

— Whittier. 

6.    Roll  on,  thou  deep  and  dark  blue  Ocean— roll ! 
Ten  thousand  fleets  sweep  over  thee  in  vain. 

^Byron. 


VOICE  TRAINING 


507 


7.  It  was  a  lover  and  his  lass, 

With  a  hey  and  a  ho,  and  a  hey-nonino ! 

That  o'er  the  green  cornfield  did  pass 

In  the  spring-time,  the  only  pretty  ring  time 

When  birds  do  sing  hey-ding-a-ding ; 

Sweet  lovers  love  the  spring.  — Shakespeare. 

8.  Charge!    Chester,  charge!    On!    Stanley,  on! 
Were  the  last  words  of  ]Marmion.  — Scott, 

9.    W'en  you  see  a  man  in  woe, 

Walk  right  up  and  say  '*hul!o!'* 
Say  "hullo"  and  "how  d'  ye  do?'* 
"How 's  the  world  a-usin'  j^ou 
Slap  the  fellow  on  his  back, 
Bring  yer  han*  down  with  a  whack ; 
Waltz  right  up,  an'  don't  go  slow. 
Grin  an'  shake  an'  say  *'hulloI" 

—S,  W.  Foss. 

10.    Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee  :  2^ 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears. 
Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears. 
Are  all  with  Thee — are  all  with  Thee  !     — Longfellow. 

11.  Come  fill  up  my  cup,  come  fill  up  my  can ; 
Come  saddle  your  horses,  and  call  up  your  men ; 
Come  open  the  Westport,  and  let  us  gang  free, 

And  it 's  room  for  the  bonnets  of  bonnie  Dundee ! — Scott. 

12.  One  of  the  illusions  is,  that  the  present  hour  is  not  the 
critical  decisive  hour.  Write  it  on  your  heart  that  every  day  is 
the  best  day  in  the  year.  No  man  has  learned  anything  rightly, 
until  he  knows  that  every  day  is  Doomsday. — Emerson. 

13.  No  man  can  accomplish  that  which  benefits  the  ages  and  not 
suffer.  Discoverers  do  not  reap  the  fruit  of  what  they  discover. 
Reformers  are  pelted  and  beaten.  Men  who  think  in  advance  of 
their  time  are  persecuted.  They  who  lead  the  flock  must  fight  the 
wolf. — Beech  er. 

14.  I  go  to  prove  my  soul ! 

I  see  my  way  as  birds  their  trackless  way. 
I  shall  arrive !    What  time,  what  circuit  first, 
I  ask  not ;  but  unless  God  send  His  hail 


508 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Or  blinding  fireballs,  sleet  or  stifling  snow, 

In  some  time.  His  good  time,  I  shall  arrive ; 

He  guides  me  and  the  bird.    In  His  good  time! — Browning, 

15.  Come,  all  ye  jolly  shepherds,  that  whistle  down  the  glen  I 
I  '11  tell  ye  of  a  secret  that  courtiers  dinna  ken: 

What  is  the  greatest  bliss  that  the  tongue  o'  man  can  name? 
'T  is  to  woo  a  bonnie  lassie  when  the  kye  come  hame. — Hogg. 

16.  Words  are  instruments  of  music ;  an  ignorant  man  uses 
them  for  jargon ;  but  when  a  master  touches  them  they  have  unex- 
pected life  and  soul.  Some  words  sound  out  like  drums ;  some 
breathe  memories  sweet  as  flutes ;  some  call  like  a  clarionet ;  some 
shout  a  charge  like  trumpets ;  some  are  sweet  as  children's  talk ; 
others  rich  as  a  mother's  answering  back. 

17.  When  a  mnn  lives  with  God,  his  voice  shall  be  as  sweet  as 
the  murmur  of  the  brook  and  the  rustle  of  the  corn. — Emerson. 

18.  Over  our  manhood  bend  the  skies; 
Against  our  fallen  and  traitor  lives 
The  great  winds  utter  prophecies ; 

With  our  faint  hearts  the  mountain  strives, 
Its  arms  outstretched,  the  druid  wood 
Waits  with  its  benedicito. 
And  to  oTir  age's  drowsy  blood 

Still  shouts  the  inspiring  sea.  — Lowell, 

19.  Ye  living  flowers  that  skirt  tli'  eternal  frost! 
Ye  wild  goats,  s])orting  'round  the  eagle's  nest! 
Ye  eagles,  playmates  of  the  mountain  storm ! 
Ye  lightnings,  the  dread  arrows  of  the  clouds ! 
Ye  signs  and  wonders  of  the  elements! 

Utter  forth  *'God!"  and  fill  the  hills  with  praise! 

— Coleridge, 

20.  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  its  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune; 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 

Is  bound  in  shallows,  and  in  miseries; 

And  we  must  take  the  current  when  it  serves, 

Or  lose  our  ventures. 

— ^hnhcHpenre. 


VOICE  TRAINING 


509 


21.    Out  of  the  night  that  covers  me, 

Black  as  the  pit  from  pole  to  pole. 
I  thank  whatever  Gods  may  be 
For  my  unconquerable  soul. 

It  matters  not  how  straight  the  gate, 

How  charged  wuth  punishment  the  scroll, 
I  am  the  master  of  my  fate ; 
I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul. 
Invictus  — William  Ernest  Henley. 

22.    Fear  Death? — to  feel  the  fog  in  my  throat. 

The  mist  in  my  face, 
When  the  snows  begin,  and  the  blasts  denote 

I  am  nearing  the  place, 
The  power  of  the  night,  the  press  of  the  storm, 

The  post  of  the  foe ; 
Where  he  stands,  the  Arch  Fear  in  a  visible  form, 

Yet  the  strong  man  must  go : 
For  the  journey  is  done  and  the  summit  attained. 

And  the  barriers  fall, 
Tho'  a  battle 's  to  fight  ere  the  guerdon  be  gained, 

The  reward  of  it  all. 
I  was  ever  a  fighter,  so — one  fight  more, 

The  best  and  the  last  I 
I  would  hate  that  death  bandaged  my  eyes,  and  forebore, 

And  bade  me  creep  past. 
No !  let  me  taste  the  whole  of  it,  fare  like  my  peers 

The  heroes  of  old, 
Bear  the  brunt,  in  a  minute  pay  glad  life's  arrears 

Of  pain,  darkness  and  cold. 
For  sudden  the  worst  turns  the  best  to  the  brave. 

The  black  minute 's  at  end, 
And  the  elements*  rage,  the  fiend-voices  that  rave. 

Shall  dwindle,  shall  blend, 
Shall  change,  shall  become  first  a  peace  out  of  pain, 

Then  a  light,  then  thy  breast, 
O  thou  soul  of  my  soul !    I  shall  clasp  thee  again» 

And  with  God  be  the  rest ! 
Prospice  — Robert  Browning, 

23.    There  lies  the  port :  the  vessel  puffs  her  sails  : 
There  gloom  the  dark  broad  seas,    ^iy  mariners, 
Souls  that  have  toiled,  and  wrought,  and  thought  with  me,- 
That  ever  with  a  frolic  w^elcome  took 


510 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  thunder  and  the  sunshine,  and  opposed 

Free  hearts,  free  foreheads, — you  and  I  are  old ; 

Old  age  has  yet  his  honor  and  his  toil ; 

Death  closes  all :  but  something  ere  the  end, 

Some  work  of  noble  note,  may  yet  be  done, 

Not  unbecoming  men  that  strove  with  Gods. 

The  lights  begin  to  twinkle  from  the  rocks ; 

The  long  day  wanes ;  the  slow  moon  climbs ;  the  deep 

Moans  round  with  many  voices.    Come  my  friends, 

'T  is  not  too  late  to  seek  a  newer  world. 

Push  off,  and  sitting  well  in  order  smite 
The  sounding  furrows;  for  my  purpose  holds 
To  sail  beyond  the  sunset  and  the  baths 
Of  all  the  western  stars,  until  I  die. 
It  may  be  that  the  gulfs  will  wash  us  down ; 
It  may  be  we  shall  touch  the  Happy  Isles, 
And  see  the  great  Achilles  whom  we  knew. 
Tho'  much  is  taken,  much  abides;  and  though 
We  are  not  now  that  strength  which  in  old  days 
Moved  earth  and  heaven ;  that  which  we  are,  w^e  are ; 
One  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts. 
Made  weak  by  time  and  fate,  but  strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield. 
Ulysses.  — Tennyson. 

24.  The  suns  of  summer  seared  his  skin, 
The  cold  his  blood  congealed ; 

The  forest  giants  blocked  his  way ; 

The  stubborn  acres'  yield 
He  w^renched  from  them  by  dint  of  arm, 

And  grim  old  Solitude 
Broke  bread  with  him  and  shared  his  cot 

Within  the  cabin  rude. 
The  gray  rocks  gnarled  his  massive  hands; 

The  north  wind  shook  his  frame; 
The  wolf  of  hunger  bit  him  oft ; 

The  Tv'orld  forgot  his  name; 
But  'mid  the  lurch  and  crash  of  trees. 

Within  the  clearing's  span 
Where  now  the  bursting  wheatheads  dip. 

The  Fates  turned  out — a  man ! 
The  Frontiersman.  — Richard  Wightman. 

25.  The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls 

And  snowy  summits  old  in  story ; 


VOICE  TRAINING 


511 


The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes, 
And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory. 
Blow,  bugle,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying ; 
Blow,  bugle ;  answer,  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

O  hark,  O  hear !  how  thin  and  clear. 
And  thinner,  clearer,  further  going ; 

O  sweet  and  far,  from  clifP  and  scar, 
The  horns  of  Elfland  faintly  blowing! 

Blow,  let  us  hear  the  purple  glens  replying ; 

Blow,  bugle ;  answer,  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

O  love,  they  die  in  yon  rich  sky. 
They  faint  on  hill  or  field  or  river ; 

Our  echoes  roll  from  soul  to  soul. 
And  grow  forever  and  forever. 

Blow,  bugle,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying; 

And  answer,  echoes,  answer,  dying,  dying,  dying. 


26.    I  come  from  haunts  of  coot  and  hern, 
I  make  a  sudden  sally, 
And  sparkle  out  among  the  fern, 
To  bicker  down  a  valley. 

By  thirty  hills  I  hurry  down. 
Or  slip  between  the  ridges; 

By  twenty  thorps,  a  little  town, 
And  half  a  hundred  bridges. 

Till  last  by  Philip's  farm  I  flow 
To  join  the  brimming  river ; 

For  men  may  come  and  men  may  go. 
But  I  go  on  forever. 


27.    With  deep  affection  and  recollection, 

1  often  think  of  those  Shandon  bells, 
Whose  sound  so  wild  would,  in  the  days  of  childhood, 
Fling  round  my  cradle  their  magic  spells. 

On  this  I  ponder  where'er  I  wander, 

And  thus  grow  fonder,  sweet  Cork,  of  thee, 

With  thy  bells  of  Shandon,  that  sound  so  grand,  on 
The  pleasant  waters  of  the  river  Lee. 


Bugle  Song. 


— Tennyson, 


The  Brook. 


— Tennyson. 


512 


PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


I  Ve  heard  bells  chiming  full  many  a  clime  in, 

Tolling  sublime  in  cathedral  shrine ; 
While  at  a  glib  rate,  brass  tongues  would  vibrate ; 

But  all  their  music  spoke  naught  like  thine. 

For  memory  dwelling,  on  each  proud  swelling 
Of  thy  belfry,  knelling  its  bold  notes  free, 

Made  the  bells  of  Shandon  sound  far  more  grand,  on 
The  pleasant  waters  of  the  river  Lee. 


The  Bells  of  Shandon. 


— Mahony 


28  and  29.    The  long  period  sentences  quoted  at  p.  438. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  391,  392,  393. 

Abstract  ideas,  difficult  to  at- 
tend to,  62;  use  of,  treacher- 
ous, 64;  not  necessarily  su- 
perior, 70. 

Abstract  subjects,  preparing 
speeches  on,  85. 

Accuracy  and  authority  of  the 
speaker,  305  ff.  . 

Action,  may  not  follow  belief, 
187;  determined  by  atten- 
tion, 191  ff;  after  delibera- 
tion, 193;  to  develop  sense  of 
responsibility,  207 ;  sugges- 
tion and,  222;  mob  demands 
immediate,  241 ;  securing 
future,  343. 

Activity,  a  means  of  interest- 
ing, 135. 

Admissions  of  an  opponent,  295. 

Advertising,  a  means  of  in- 
creasing authoritativeness  of 
the  speaker,  225;  use  of 
repetition  in,  287. 

Affectation,  16;  in  phrasing, 
170  f. 

Affections,  as  fundamental  in- 
terests, 114;  as  motive,  197. 

Age  and  conservatism,  284. 

xAgitator,  283,  307. 

Aiken,  W.  A.,  501. 

A  Liberal  Education,  selection, 
463. 

Alice  in  Wonderland,  132,  172. 

Amplilication,  and  sustained 
attention,  152  f;  and  brevity, 
154;  in  persuasion,  213;  as 
a  means  of  suggestion,  224; 
afl'ecting  delivery,  436. 

Amusing  an  audience,  131,  311. 

Analogy,  141. 


Analysis,  of  subjects,  80  ff, 
152  f;  of  audience,  396  ff;  in 
outline,  402  ff . 

Angell,  J.  R.,  57,  61,  76,  192. 

Anger,  diminishes  the  influence 
of  the  speaker,  327. 

Antagonizing  the  audience,  134, 
257,  330  fi\ 

Anticipation,  to  sustain  atten- 
tion, 130;  a  factor  in  sugges- 
tion, 236. 

Antithesis,  169. 

Appeal,  to  emotion,  196;  to  a 
mob,  240  f. 

Approach,  to  the  audience,  257 ; 
belligerent  attitude  to  be 
avoided,  257  ;  finding  common 
ground,  260 ;  explanations, 
265;  definition  of  terms  in, 
267;  order  of  arguments, 
270;  concessions,  268;  in  the 
outline,  404,  414,  417. 

Approval  and  admiration,  as 
motives,  201. 

Argument,  exposition  in,  177; 
review  of  accepted,  in  persua- 
sion, 212;  place  of  logical,  in 
persuasion,  248;  both  per- 
suasive and  sound  to  be  ef- 
fective, 249;  emotion  in,  250; 
effect  of  unrelated  emotion 
on,  255 ;  tendency  of  audience 
to  resist,  259;  rate  of  prog- 
ress in,  273;  bearing  of  fixed 
opinions,  principles  and  senti- 
ments on,  273  ff;  precedent, 
288;  authorities,  291;  for 
future  action,  344;  see  Be- 
lief, Authority,  Approach  to 
audience.  Persuasion  and  be- 
lief. 


514 


INDEX 


Aristotle,  classification  of  emo- 
tions, 197;  justification  of 
persuasion,  339. 

Association,  of  the  new  with 
the  old,  55;  and  emotion, 
103  ff. 

Athletics,  speech  subjects  on, 
361. 

Attention,  and  delivery,  general 
references,  Chapters  II,  IV, 
XIII,  XIV;  principles  ot, 
50  ff;  forms  of,  51  ff;  and  in- 
terest, 53;  sustained,  59; 
concreteness  and,  62;  imag- 
ination and,  73;  of  the 
speaker  to  his  topic,  77  ff ; 
economy  of,  112;  of  the  audi- 
ence, how  won,  112  ff;  imag- 
ination and  attention  of  audi- 
ence, 139  ff ;  means  of  sus- 
taining, 152  ff;  determines 
action,  192;  beli^ef,  a  problem 
of  securing  exclusive,  245; 
and  remote  action,  343;  re- 
lation of  ideas,  434  ff ;  see 
Centering,  Audience,  Speaker. 

Attitude,  emotional,  of  audi- 
ence, 253,  346;  speaker  to 
avoid  a  belligerent,  257. 

Audience,  contact  with,  Chap- 
ter II;  attention  of,  Chapters 
VI,  VIII,  IX;  necessity  of 
interesting,  111;  how  win  the 
attention  of,  112  ff;  funda- 
mental interests  of,  113;  dif- 
ferences in  interests  of,  115; 
relation  of  speaker  to,  116  ff; 
the  general,  118  ff;  common 
interests  of,  118  ff;  means  of 
interesting  all,  120  ff;  use  of 
derived  interest,  120;  novelty 
and  interest  of,  123;  the  fa- 
miliar and  interest  of,  124; 
differences  in  relish  for 
novelty,  126;  making  it 
think,  127;  antagonizing  the, 
134;  consideration  of,  in 
choosing  illustrations,  145 ; 
emotional   attitude   of,  ap- 


proach to,  257;  conservative 
or  radical  tendencies  of,  279; 
fairness  and  courtesy  toward, 
317;  respect  for,  318;  not  to 
be  patronized,  321;  tact  in 
addressing,  329  ff;  convicting 
of  ignorance,  330;  should 
avoid  humiliating,  331;  need- 
less stirring  of  prejudices  of, 
333;  demands  sincerity  in 
the  speaker,  335;  considera- 
tion of,  in  choosing  subjects, 
349  ff;  salutation  of,  493  f; 
see  Attention,  Emotion,  Mo- 
tives, Interest,  Sustained  at- 
tention, and  Suggestion. 

Authority,  in  suggestion,  224; 
efiectiveness  of,  in  argument, 
291  f;  persuasive  use  of, 
291  f;  tests  for  an,  292;  how 
attacked,  300 ;  Lincoln's 
method  of  attacking,  301 ; 
the  speaker  as  an,  304;  used 
against  exaggeration,  307; 
positiveness  an  element  in, 
308;  effect  of  humor  on,  311; 
see  Exaggeration. 

Await  the  Issue,  a  selection, 
465. 

Bacon,  Lord,  on  reading,  377  f. 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  280. 

Bain,  A.,  246,  278. 

Baker,  G.  P.,  186,  198,  268,  382. 

Baldwin,  J.  M.,  193,  254. 

Banquet  speaking,  and  stories, 
132;  usually  purposeful,  189. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  his  train- 
ing, 10;  definition  of  oratory, 
188;  use  of  motives,  198,  201 ; 
and  crowd  psychology,  234; 
finding  common  ground,  264 ; 
and  self-respect,  326. 

Belief,  as  a  purpose  of  speak- 
ing, 111;  and  action,  187; 
persuasion  and,  245-348;  and 
attention,  245 ;  dependence 
of,  upon  experience,  247 ;  logi- 
cal  argument   in  securing, 


INDEX 


515 


248;  emotion  in  securing, 
250;  desire  and,  253  ff;  com- 
mon ground  of,  262;  reasons 
often  absent  for,  275;  con- 
servatism and,  279  ff;  see 
Persuasion  and  belief. 

Bell,  Alexander  Melville,  501. 

Belligerent  attitude  and  persua- 
sion, 257. 

"Be  natural,"  28. 

Betts,  W.  H.,  72. 

Beveridge,  A.  J.,  on  humor, 
313;  on  self-confidence,  325. 

Bible,  as  a  source  of  illustra- 
tion, 146,  147;  a  model  of 
pure  English,  322;  Paul's 
persuasiveness,  341 ;  refer- 
ences to  Luke  18:10,  458, 
460,  462. 

Bluff,  in  college  debates,  299. 

Bluntness,  172. 

Books,  as  authorities  in  argu- 
ments, 294;  finding  them, 
369  ff. 

Booth,  Maud  Ballington,  27. 
Bows,  493. 

Breathing,  pause  utilized  for, 
440;  exercises  for,  502. 

Brevit}^  detail  consistent  with, 
143;  virtue  of,  154;  not 
necessarily  good,  154;  sug- 
gestions for,  157. 

Brooks,  Phillips,  on  speech 
preparation,  380 ;  outline, 
399. 

Bryan,  W.  J.,  147,  170. 
Bryce,  James,  as  an  authority, 
295. 

Burke,  Edmund,  214,  489. 
Burr,  George  L.,  172. 
Business  men  and  public  speak- 
ing, 8. 

Campus  topics  for  speech  sub- 
jects, 352,  360. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  114,  465. 

Centering,  425  ff. 

Chairman,  recognition  of,  493: 
duties  of,  495. 


Chart,  in  exposition,  179; 
speaker's,  396. 

Cicero,  45,  257,  417. 

Classical  form  of  outline,  416  ff. 

Clearness,  and  vividness  needed 
by  speaker,  50;  through  con- 
creteness,  63 ;  imagination 
and,  73;  as  a  purpose  of 
speaking,  111;  and  brevity, 
156;  consideration  of  audi- 
ence needed,  182;  an  essential 
of  the  outline,  406. 

Climax,  in  composition,  169;  in 
order  of  argument,  270. 

Coherence,  in  composition,  164; 
Wendell  Phillips  and,  165; 
in  the  outline,  407;  in  de- 
livery, 442. 

College  classes  in  public  speak- 
ing, 12. 

College  students  and  clearness, 
183;  and  modesty,  323. 

College  oratory,  17,  164. 

Common  ground,  260;  of  inter- 
est, 260;  of  feeling,  260;  of 
belief,  262;  methods  of  find- 
ing, 263  ff ;  see  Persuasion 
and  belief. 

Commonplace  and  platitude, 
119. 

Composition,  168. 
Concessions,  268. 
Conclusion  of  an  outline,  406, 
418. 

Concreteness  and  attention,  62 ; 
and  clearness,  63;  Dewey's 
definitions,  68;  and  interest 
of  the  audience,  135;  and  sus- 
tained attention,  153;  and 
persuasion,  215. 

Conduct,  a  purpose  of  speak- 
ing, 111,  184-244;  see  Per- 
suasion. 

Conflict,  interest  in,  134. 

Conservatism,  and  persuasion, 
279;  considerations  in  judg- 
ing, 279  ff;  overcoming,  286. 

Consonants,  exercises  for,  504. 

Hontra-suggestion,  229. 


516 


INDEX 


Conventions,  stampeding,  234, 
236. 

Conversational  delivery,  analy- 
sis of,  30. 

Conversational  quality,  not  con- 
versational style,  28;  recrea- 
tion of  thought,  30  f;  sense 
of  communication,  31;  in 
reading,  33 ;  in  speaking  from 
manuscript,  34;  in  speaking 
from  memory,  34;  in  extem- 
poraneous speaking,  36;  di- 
rectness, 37 ;  interrogation 
helps  to  gain,  170. 

Conversational  public  speaking, 
misconceptions  of,  25 ;  need 
not  sound  like  conversation, 
25;  "a  gentleman  convers- 
ing,'' 27 ;  not  less  dignified  or 
eloquent,  26;  not  necessarily 
good,  41. 

Conversing  with  an  audience, 
20-49. 

Conviction,  exposition  as  a 
means  to,  176;  definition  of, 
185;  in  college  debating,  337; 
mood  of,  345 ;  strongest,  rests 
on  both  reason  and  emotion, 
346;  see  Argument,  Belief, 
Persuasion. 

Coordination,  exercises  for, 
physical,  479. 

Corax,  417. 

Corson,  Hiram,  446. 

Correlation  and  subordination, 
in  an  outline,  407  IF. 

Courtesy,  317. 

Crane,  T.  F.,  5. 

Criticism,  in  learning  public 
speaking,  13;  of  self,  80;  of 
gesture,  481,  485. 

Crowd,  homogeneous,  231;  char- 
acteristics of,  231;  desirabil- 
ity of  forming,  233;  methods 
of  forming,  234;  in  a  conven- 
tion stampede,  236;  may  be- 
come a  mob,  237;  ethics  of 
use  of  suggestion  on,  241 ;  see 
Mobs. 


Curiosity  and  attention  of  the 

audience,  129. 
Curry,  S.  S.,  476,  501,  504. 
Curtis,   George   William,  149, 

189,  282,  357,  462. 
Curzon,  Earl,  4. 
Cynicism,  339. 


Darwin,  Charles,  on  origin  of 
gesture,  469. 

Debating,  use  of  authority  in, 
298  ff;  use  of  letters  as  au- 
thority, 299;  "bluff"  in,  299; 
attacking  authority,  300  ff; 
display  of  anger,  327;  sin- 
cerity in,  337 ;  see  Argument, 
Authority,  Approach,  Belief. 

Declamation,  see  Selections. 

Definition  of  terms,  267. 

DeGarmo,  Charles,  50,  63. 

Delivery,  Chapters  II,  IV,  V, 
XITI,  XIV,  XV,  XVI;  right 
thinking  necessary,  17;  con- 
versing with  an  audience,  20- 
49 ;  conversational  quality 
in,  28;  "Be  natural"  insuffi- 
cient advice,  28;  conversa- 
tional delivery  analj^zed,  30; 
directness,  37;  will  power, 
39;  mechanical  methods,  44; 
imitation,  47 ;  individuality 
of,  47;  attention  in,  31  ff, 
50  fT,  424  ff ;  preparation  for, 
93,  105,  420  ff;  imagery  dur- 
ing, 93 ;  staleness  in,  96 ;  emo- 
tion in,  97-108;  and  compo- 
sition, 167;  centering  and 
emphasis,  426  ff;  thought  re- 
lations in,  434  ff;  coherence 
of,  434  ff,  441;  pause,  439; 
monotony,  442;  delivery  of 
selections,  445-468;  see  Ex- 
temporaneous Speaking, 
Written  Speech. 

Demosthenes,  336. 

Denunciation,  258;  opprobrious 
epithets,  258. 

Derived  interest,  and  attention, 


INDEX 


517 


54,  78;  and  attention  of  au- 
dience, 120. 

Derived  primary  attention,  52. 

Desire,  and  persuasion,  196; 
and  belief,  251. 

Detail,  in  illustration,  142  if. 

Dewey,  John,  68,  127,  137,  196. 

Diagrams,  139,  144,  179. 

Dignity  of  bearing,  316,  326. 

Directness  of  delivery,  36,  37. 

Discussion,  in  an  outline,  446. 

Distinctness  of  voice,  498. 

Dolliver,  J.  P.*  6,  321. 

Dull  subjects,  liow  to  make  in- 
teresting, 55,  78. 


Earnestness,  338. 

Echo,  and  coherence,  165;  and 
delivery,  435  fF. 

Education  and  study  of  public 
speaking,  14. 

Elimination,  and  unity,  162. 

Elocution,  16. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  218,  342. 

Emotion,  in  delivery,  97-108; 
and  sincerity,  98;  in  all  good 
speaking,  98;  not  to  be  as- 
sumed, 99;  can  a  speaker 
command?  100;  repression  of, 
100;  James-Lange  theory  of, 
101;  developed  from  ideas, 
103;  and  associations,  103; 
effect  of  analysis  on,  105; 
time  element  in  preparing, 
105;  preparing  for  speaking, 
105;  balancing  v^ith  thought, 
105;  emotional  drift  during 
delivery,  107;  in  exposition, 
183;  in  persuasion,  195;  re- 
lation to  motives,  196;  Aris- 
totle's classification,  197 ; 
bald  appeal  to,  205;  con- 
cerned with  particulars,  215; 
and  suggestibilit5%  230;  and 
the  psychological  crowd,  231; 
in  argument.  250  flf;  common 
ground  of,  261;  in  beliefs  of 
educated  men,  275 ;  mood,  the 


residue  of,  346;  gesture  and, 
469. 

Emphasis,  in  composition,  167; 
a  result  of  centering,  426, 
443;  mechanical,  426,  443; 
structural,  in  delivery,  441; 
gesture  for,  473,  490. 

Endurance  of  voice,  499.' 

Engineer,  needs  training  in  pub- 
lic speaking,  7. 

Entertainment  as  an  end,  111. 

Epigrams,  154. 

Epithets,  opprobrious,  257. 

Essenwein,  J.  B.,  381. 

Ethical  questions,  speech  sub- 
jects from,  364. 

Ethics,  of  use  of  motives,  197  f ; 
of  suggestion,  241;  of  per- 
suasion, 339;  and  originality 
in  speeches,  383. 

Exaggeration,  and  authority, 
305  ff ;  tends  to  misunder- 
standing, 306;  places  speaker 
in  hands  of  opponents,  307; 
and  positiveness,  308;  and 
hyperbole,  308;  strength  of 
understatement,  309. 

Exercises  for  bearing  and  ges- 
ture, 447  fF;  for  voice  train- 
ing, 502  fF. 

Exordium,  417. 

Explanation,  in  finding  common 
ground,  265;  see  Exposition. 

Exposition,  importance  of,  176; 
in  argument,  177;  speeches 
purely  expository,  177; 
methods  of,  178;  use  of  pic- 
tures, charts,  and  maps,  170; 
clearness  in,  182;  students 
unfitted  for.  183;  emotion  in, 
184;  and  persuasion,  219, 
265;  as  part  of  introduction, 
417. 

Expository  speech,  176-184; 
suggestions  for  topics,  363; 
outline  of,  412  fF,  420. 

Extemporaneous  speaking,  con- 
versational quality  in,  36; 
and  written  speeches,  385  fF ; 


518 


INDEX 


meaning  of  term,  385 ;  advan- 
tages and  defects  of,  385  ff ; 
combined  with  memorizing, 
388;  reducing  defects  of, 
389  ff ;  demands  good  prep- 
aration, 392;  use  of  outline, 
421. 

Eye,  effect  of  in  speaking, 
39. 

Facts,  power  of,  288. 

Fairness,  as  a  motive,  200;  in 
common  ground,  269;  qualifi- 
cation of  an  authority,  294; 
in  the  speaker,  317. 

Faith  and  action,  210. 

Familiar,  interest  in  the,  58; 
interest  of  audience  in,  124; 
triteness,  124;  as  a  means 
of  overcoming  conservatism, 
286;  words,  322. 

Fear,  as  a  motive,  202. 

Feeling,  unity  of,  159  f;  in 
crowd,  231 ;  common  ground 
of,  261;  see  Emotion. 

Figures  of  speech,  148  ff. 

Fixed  opinions,  principles  and 
sentiments,    in  persuasion, 

273  fr. 

Fluency,  a  danger,  17. 

Force,  168,  170  ff;  and  slang, 

173;  of  imagery,  217-222. 
Foster,  W.  F.,  215,  270,  294, 

296,  298,  379. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  287,  323, 

325. 

Gardiner,  J.  H.,  64. 

General  words,  65,  67. 

Generalizations,  65,  67 ;  "glit- 
tering generalities,"  82 ;  have 
persuasive  force,  216. 

''Gentleman  conversing,"  26, 
495. 

Genung,  152,  163,  168,  213,  257, 
309.  312,  357. 

Gesture,  468-401 :  a  means  of 
expression,  468;  adapted  to 
the  expression  of  feeling,  469 ; 


origin  of,  469;  metaphorical 
character  of,  470;  frees  from 
restraint,  470 ;  inevitable, 
471;  effect  on  feeling,  472; 
from  impulse,  473;  first  stage 
of  training,  473;  poise,  474; 
free  body  action  in,  474;  ex- 
ercises for,  476;  second  stage 
of  training,  481 ;  shades  of 
meaning,  482;  third  stage  of 
training,  483;  kinds  of, 
486  ff;  locative,  486;  illustra- 
tive, 488;  sijggestive,  mani- 
festive,  emphatic,  490. 

Gettysburg  Address,  illustrat- 
ing brevity,  156;  an  example 
of  unity,  160;  model  for  oc- 
casional address,  189;  echo 
in,  435. 

''Gift  of  gab,"  17. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  88,  389. 

Good  Humor,  327. 

Grady,  H.  W.,  91. 

Halleck,  81,  140,  220. 
Hamlet,  132,  154,  194. 
Health,  as  an  interest,  113;  as 

motive,  197;  an  element  of 

the    speaker's    power,  316; 

voice  training  beneficial  to. 

497. 

Helmholtz,  H.  L.  F.,  60. 
Henry,  Patrick,  322. 
Hesitation,  440. 

Heterogeneous  audience,  inter- 
ests of  a,  118;  formed  into  a 
crowd,  231. 

Hill,  A.  S.,  65. 

History,  as  a  field  for  speech 
subjects,  351,  364;  sources  of 
facts  of,  374. 

Hoar,  George  F.,  4. 

Hollingworth,  H.  L.,  135. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  89, 
276. 

Honesty  and  tact,  339. 

Honor,  a  fundamental  interest, 

113;  as  a  motive,  197. 
Hughes,  Charles  U.,  7,  119. 


INDEX 


519 


Hugo,  Victor,  144. 

Humor,  and  attention  of  the  au- 
dience, 131  ft';  disposes  of  hos- 
tility, 261;  and  authorita- 
tiveness  of  the  speaker,  311; 
not  inconsistent  with  serious 
purposes,  313;  Lincoln's  use 
of,  313;  see  Good  Humor. 

Huxley,  Thomas,  254,  463. 

Hyperbole,  308. 

Ibsen,  Henrik,  15. 

Ideas,  acquiring  of,  as  a  system 
of  grafting,  56;  developing 
emotion  from,  103;  impress  a 
single  idea,  161;  uncontrolled 
association  of,  161 ;  exclusive 
attention  to  an  idea  results 
in  action,  191  ff;  inhibiting 
action,  192;  motor,  220;  dy- 
namic nature  of,  223;  and 
suggestion,  223;  exclusive  at- 
tention to,  secures  belief,  245 ; 
original,  380  ff. 

Identification,  to  make  a  mo- 
tive effective,  203;  to  secure 
assent  to  a  new  proposal, 
276  ff. 

Illustration,  and  early  prepara- 
tion, 89;  used  to  secure  de- 
rived interest,  122;  specific 
and  general,  138;  suggestions 
for,  141  ff. 

Imagery,  kinds  of,  70;  during 
delivery,  93;  variations  in 
use  of,  151;  Emerson  quoted, 
218;  images  of  motion,  220; 
a  mob  thinks  in,  239. 

Imagination,  70  ff;  and  images, 
71;  and  the  imaginary,  72; 
"a  commonplace,  necessary 
process,"  72;  and  attention, 
73;  and  clearness,  73;  social 
value  of,  74;  productive  and 
reproductive,  74;  needs  ma- 
terial to  work  with,  75;  in 
speech  preparation,  83;  and 
attention  of  the  audience, 
139  ff;  use  of  analogy,  141; 


in  sustaining  attention,  153; 
in  persuasion,  217;  and  con- 
servatism, 286;  and  sym- 
pathy, 329. 

Imitation,  in  learning  public 
speaking,  47 ;  a  factor  in  sug- 
gestion, 225. 

Impersonation,  with  selections, 
447;  gesture  in,  489. 

Impression,  preman^^ncy  of, 
343  ff. 

Impromptu  speaking,  385. 
Impulse,  to  gesture,  473. 
Individuality   of  the  speaker, 

14;  destroyed  by  imitation, 

47. 

Inflection,  437. 

Influencing  conduct,  see  Persua- 
sion. 

Influence  of  the  speaker,  af- 
fected by  reputation,  116;  by 
age,  117;  by  rashness  of 
statement,  305;  by  humor, 
311;  moral  character,  314; 
personality,  315;  health,  316; 
by  attitude  toward  audience, 
317-339. 

Imitation  of  tone,  503. 

Inspiration,  90  flf ,  398,  422. 

Interest,  and  attention,  53; 
grows  with  knowledge,  54, 
90;  derived,  54:  and  novelty, 
56;  in  the  familiar,  58;  and 
the  attention  of  the  audience, 
Cliapter  VI ;  as  speaker's  pur- 
pose, 111;  necessity  of  inter- 
esting the  audience.  111; 
fundamental  interests  of  au- 
dience, 113;  the  human  in- 
terest, 114;  differences  in 
groups,  115;  variation  of  in- 
terests of  same  group,  115; 
as  affected  by  the  speaker, 
116;  of  a  general  audience, 
118  ff;  derived,  to  reach  the 
audience,  120ft';  novelt^^ 
123;  and  the  familiar,  124; 
triteness,  124;  sensational 
methods,  128;  curiosity,  129; 


520 


INDEX 


suspense  and  anticipation, 
130;  humor,  131;  conflict, 
134;  activity,  135;  concrete- 
ness  of  expression,  135;  use 
of  specific,  137;  imagination, 
139;  illustration,  141  ff;  fig- 
ures of  speech,  148  ff ;  ampli- 
fication, 154;  variety,  158; 
elements  of  composition, 
159  ff ;  to  secure  postponed 
action,  345;  relation  to 
speech  subjects,  350  ff;  see 
Attention. 

Interrogation,  and  force,  170. 

Introduction,  to  make  hearers 
well  disposed,  257;  of  out- 
line, 404,  417,  419  ff;  see  Ap- 
proach. 

James,  William,  15,  53,  54,  56, 
58,  60,  101,  123,  152,  191, 
194,  195,  203,  208,  245,  277, 
425,  457. 

James-Lange  theory  of  Emo- 
tions, 101. 

Jevons,  W.  S.,  63. 

Ketcham,  V.  A.,  132. 
Kirby,  E.  N.,  454. 
Know^ledge  and  interest,  54. 

Language,  concrete  and  ab- 
stract, 62  ff,  135  ff;  effective 
phrasing,  170;  common  peo- 
ple like  to  hear  good,  322; 
tact  in  choice  of,  335;  inade- 
quate for  expression,  468; 
gesture  the  original,  469;  see 
Figures  of  Speech. 

Lavisse,  Ernest,  279. 

Lawyers,  speaking  a  help  to,  7 ; 
use  emotion  in  argument,  255. 

Leadership  and  public  speaking, 
14. 

Le  Bon,  G.,  232,  240,  243,  274, 
382. 

Lee,  D.  C,  453. 

Liberal  Education,  a  selection, 
463. 


Lincoln,  J)r.iham,  preparing  a 
speech  ..n..  62,  81,  82,  84,  117, 
152;  ^  i-Douglas  de- 
bates, '  -  <  ,  325,  328;  use 
of  coi:;v:oii  ound,  266;  fair- 
ness/.^f,  t?70  meeting  author- 
ity, oUi;  1  i  .srepresented  by 
Douglas,  S'.^7 ;  his  humor, 
313-  '  •  ,.'j'-ct  for  his  audience, 
320  ty  of,  325 ;  good 

hur  28. 

Liter  j,  sources  of,  375. 

Liter  oure,  as  a  field  for  speech 
subjects,  351,  356. 

Lloyd-George,  D.,  effective 
phrases  of,  219. 

Locative  gestures,  486. 

Logic,^  and  persuasion,  247  f ; 
and  emotion,  254. 

Lowell,  A.  Lawrence,  9,  215, 
256. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  310,  381, 
382. 

McDougall,  W.,  196,  229,  243. 
Manifestive  gestures,  490. 
Manners  on  platform,  492-496. 
Manuscript,  speaking  from,  34, 
388. 

Maps,  in  exposition,  179. 

Marsh,  G.  P.,  309. 

Material,  needed  for  imagina- 
tion, 75 ;  working  of,  in 
speech  preparation,  82;  imag- 
ination used  on  speech  ma- 
terials, 140;  for  illustration, 
sourcies  of,  146;  considered 
from  different  angles,  153; 
finding,  for  speech,  369  ff ;  for 
selections,  449;  see  Speech 
preparation. 

Matthews,  Brander,  310,  388. 

Mechanical  methods,  of  deliv- 
ery, 44 ;  useful  in  gathering 
materials,  80,  379;  not  desir- 
able to  secure  emphasis,  426, 
443. 

Memory,  speaking  from,  34,  387. 
Memorizing,  34,  387,  456,  457. 


INDEX 


IVfills,  Wesley,  501. 
Misrepresentation,    in  debate, 
307. 

Mob,  237  ff;  control  of,  238  ff; 

see  Suggestion,  Crowds. 
Modesty,  323. 

Monotony,  of  emotion  in  deliv- 
ery, 107;  and  sustained  atten- 
tion, 152;  in  repetition,  213; 
as  a  method  of  suggestion, 
236;  in  delivery,  442. 

Mood,  of  conviction,  349. 

Moral  character  and  the  speak- 
er's influence,  314. 

Motives,  196  ff;  ethical  use  of, 
197;  high  and  low,  198  f; 
fairness,  200;  desire  for  ap- 
proval and  admiration,  201 ; 
rivalry,  202;  fear,  202;  not 
always  best  to  mention,  203; 
bald  appeal  to,  205. 

Muchmore,  G.  B.,  476,  502. 

Music,  increasing  suggestibility, 
235. 


Naturalness,  varied  meanings 
of,  28  f ;  study  needed  for  de- 
velopment of,  30,  172. 

New  idea  and  echo,  435. 

Newcomer,  A.  G.,  197. 

Note  taking,  80,  82,  379. 


Observation  and  illustrations, 
147. 

Occasion,  relation  of  speaker  to, 
116;  and  appeal  to  motives, 
204;  the  subject  suggested  by, 
349. 

Oral  reading,  conversational 
elements  in,  33;  improved  by 
the  study  of  selections.  446; 
see  Manuscript. 

Orators,  born,  110. 

Oratory,  the  term,  4,  6;  of  the 
"college''  kind,  17. 

Order,  of  details  in  illustration, 
144;  of  argument,  270. 


Organizations,  value  of,  in  per- 
suasion, 210;  are  conserva- 
tive, 281. 

Origin  and  history  of  a  ques- 
tion, 266. 

Original  speeches,  best  to  begin 
with,  445;  see  Originality. 

Originality,  380  ff;  moral  as- 
pects of,  383. 

Outline,  value  of,  395 ;  objec- 
tions to,  398  ff ;  analysis  in, 
402;  parts  of,  404  ff;  clear- 
ness, 406;  coherence,  164, 
407;  tests  of,  410;  the  classi- 
cal form  of,  416;  suggested 
form,  419;  use  of,  420. 

Parallel  constructions,  an  aid 
to  coherence,  165. 

Paraphrasing,  statements  of  an 
authority,  298;  not  original 
work,  382. 

Partition,  in  outlines,  418. 

Paul,  and  the  ethics  of  persua- 
sion, 341. 

Pause,  439  ff. 

Peroration,  406,  418. 

Personality,  in  a  crowd,  230, 
235,  241 ;  an  element  in  power 
of  speaker,  315  ft'. 

Persuasion,  Chapters  VlIT,  IX; 
exposition  as  a  means  to, 
176;  influencing  conduct 
when  active  opposition  is 
lacking,  185  ff;  definition  of 
the  term,  185,  194;  compared 
with  conviction,  185  ff;  belief 
and  action,  187;  the  chief 
purpose  of  public  speaking, 
188;  hearers  classified  with 
reference  to,  189;  foundation 
principle  of,  191ft';  "what 
holds  attention  determines 
action,'^  191;  action  after  de- 
liberation, 193;  the  theory 
of,  194;  conventional  theory 
of,  195 ;  significance  of  emo- 
tion in,  195;  bald  appeal  to 
emotion,  203;   sense  of  re- 


522 


INDEX 


sponsibility,  205;  compelling 
people  to  face  the  truth,  208 ; 
faith,  210;  value  of  organiza- 
tion, 210;  manner  of  present- 
ing proposal,  211;  keeping 
proposal  before  attention, 
212  If;  concrete  and  specific 
expression,  215  f;  influence  of 
imagination,  217;  and  sug- 
gestion, 222  IT;  see  Sugges- 
tion, Persuasion  and  Belief. 

Persuasion  and  Belief,  Chapter 
IX ;  belief  and  attention,  245 ; 
logical  argument  in,  248; 
emotional  element  in  sound 
argument,  250;  effect  of  de- 
sire, 251;  effect  of  prejudice, 
255;  approach  to  an  audi- 
ence, 257  ff;  belligerent  atti- 
tude, 257;  common  ground, 
260  ff ;  explanations,  265 ; 
definition  of  terms,  267;  con- 
cessions, 268 ;  the  issues,  269 ; 
order  of  argument,  270;  rate 
of  progress,  273;  fixed  opin- 
ions, principles  and  senti- 
ments, 273;  identifying  be- 
liefs, 276;  conservative  and 
radical  tendencies  of  the  au- 
dience, 270  ff;  forces  against 
change,  281;  overcoming  con- 
servatism, 286 ;  persuasive 
use  of  authority,  291;  atti- 
tude of  the  speaker,  304  ff ; 
not  trickery,  339;  future  ac- 
tion, 343  ff;  the  ''mood"  of 
conviction,  345. 

Persuasiveness  of  the  speaker, 
effect  of  personal  qualities, 
304  ff. 

Phelps,  Austin,  155,  168,  309, 
322. 

Phillips,  A.  E.,  Ill,  114,  197. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  "a  gentleman 

conversing,"  27 ;  an  exemplar 

of  conversational  style,  28; 

speaking  from  memory,  35; 

his  coherence  and  force,  165; 

use  of  suggestion,  233,  249; 


of  common  ground,  262;  use 
of  understatement,  310. 

Phrasing,  425  ff. 

Picturing  gestures,  488. 

Pillsbury,  W.  B.,  54,  118,  192, 
246  f . 

Pitch,  444;  change  from  nat- 
ural, 499. 

Plan,  importance  of,  393  ff ;  how 
to  make,  394  ff. 

Pleasure,  a  fundamental  inter- 
est, 114. 

Poise,  and  gesture,  474;  exer- 
cises for,  476;  on  the  plat- 
form, 484. 

Political  science,  a  field  for 
speech  subjects,  350,  362. 

Positiveness,  an  element  in  au- 
thoritativeness,  308. 

Power,  a  fundamental  interest, 
113;  a  motive,  197. 

Practical,  the,  interest  in,  70, 
137. 

Practical  public  speaking,  7, 
16. 

Practical  thinking,  70,  137. 

Preacher,  oral  reading  of,  33; 
age  of,  and  effectiveness,  117; 
and  sensational  methods, 
128;  use  of  anticipation,  130; 
brevity  of  sermons,  157; 
vaudeville  type  of,  158;  unity 
of  sermons,  163;  Robert  Col- 
lier's "naturalness,"  172;  be- 
lief without  action,  187; 
omitting  the  exhortation, 
204,  333 ;  bringing  home  indi- 
vidual responsibility,  206 ; 
finding  common  ground,  263, 
265 ;  indulgence  in  the  ex- 
clamatory style,  310;  appeal 
to  duty,  333;  Phillips  Brooks 
on  the  preacher's  reading, 
380:  on  outlining,  399; 
Beecher  on  extemporaneous 
preaching,  386;  on  writing, 
300;  Lvman  Abbott  quoted, 
390,  391,  392,  393;  Dr.  Storrs 
quoted,  391 ;  writing  sermons, 


INDEX 


523 


390  ff;  making  a  plan,  393; 
an  outline,  399  ff. 

Precedent,  overcomes  conserva- 
tism, 288 ;  fallacies  of,  290. 

Prejudice,  appealing  to,  197, 
255;  may  be  good,  197,  346; 
influence  on  belief,  255  ff ; 
disqualifies  an  authority,  294, 
303 ;  sometimes  needlessly 
stirred,  333. 

Preparation,  of  selections  for 
delivery,  453;  of  speeches,  see 
Speech  preparation. 

Press,  supplanting  public  speak- 
ing, 6. 

Primary  attention,  51. 

Property,  a  fundamental  inter- 
est, 113;  a  motive,  197. 

Psychological  crowd,  231  ff. 

Public  questions,  speech  sub- 
jects from,  355,  362. 

Public  speaking,  demand  for, 
3;  compared  with  the  power 
of  the  press,  6;  a  subject  for 
study,  10  ff;  distinguish  from 
elocution,  reading,  and  "col- 
lege oratory,"  16,  448;  what 
is  to  be  learned?  18;  educa- 
tional value,  14;  a  normal 
act,  20;  and  private  conver- 
sation compared,  20  ff ;  pur- 
poses of,  111;  persuasion  the 
chief  purpose  of,  188. 

Purpose,  importance  of,  109; 
purposes  of  a  speaker.  111; 
unity  of,  in  a  speech,  149; 
persuasion,  the  ch'^f,  189; 
consideration  of  ilk  aoosing 
a  subject,  357. 

Quintilian,  314. 

Quotations,  in  exact  words, 
298. 

Radical  audience,  279  ff. 
Range  of  voice.  499.  505. 
Rate  of  delivery,  42,  430,  440. 
Rate  of  progress  in  argument, 
273. 


Reading  in  speech  preparation, 
81,  376  ff;  taking  notes  in, 
80,  82,  379;  see  Oral  reading. 
Manuscript. 

Reason,  and  emotion,  196, 
250  ff;  not  always  the  foun- 
dation of  conviction,  273  ff. 

Reform,  282  ff. 

Relations  of  ideas,  80  ff,  164, 
402  ff,  407;  as  affecting  de- 
livery, 434  ff,  455;  see  Analy- 
sis. 

Recreation  of  thought  in  deliv- 
ery, 31. 

Relaxation,  exercises  for, 
477. 

Repetition,  in  persuasion,  212; 
set  phrases,  212;  and  sugges- 
tion, 224;  to  overcome  con- 
servatism, 287. 

Reputation,  a  fundamental  in- 
terest, 113;  as  motive,  197; 
and  authority,  292;  and 
attacking  authority,  301  ff ; 
and  author  itati  veil  ess  of  a 
speaker,  224  f,  304  ff;  for 
sincerity,  335. 

Responsibility,  sense  of,  and 
conduct,  205;  effect  of  num- 
bers on,  230  f ;  lost  in  a  mob, 
238. 

Restatement,  in  persuasion, 
212  f;  affecting  delivery,  436, 
455. 

Restraint,  of  emotion,  100;  ges- 
ture and,  472  f;  lack  of,  in  a 
crowd,  231. 

Righteousness,  a  fundamental 
interest,  113. 

Ring\valt,  R.  S.,  117,  417. 

Rivalrv  as  a  motive,  202. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  115,  219, 
293,  295.  334. 

Root,  Elihu,  114,  200,  281,  295, 
390. 

Ross,  E.  A.,  74,  223,  226,  241, 
243. 

Royce,  Josiah,  57,  59,  64,  230. 
Rules  of  thumb,  18. 


INDEX 


Scheme  for  study  of  a  selection, 
454. 

Schopenhauer,  A.,  47,  65. 

Schurman,  J.  G.,  5. 

Scott,  W.  D.,  70,  223,  243. 

Secondary  attention,  51. 

Selecting  the  subject,  349  ff; 
see  Speech  subjects. 

Selections,  study  and  delivery 
of,  445  ff ;  kind  to  be  used, 
477;  how  to  find,  449;  quali- 
ties of  a  good,  451;  prepara- 
tion of,  453;  partial  analysis 
of,  "Who  is  to  blame?"  457; 
for  voice  training,  506  If. 

Self-centeredness  of  the  speak- 
er, 109,  114. 

Self-confidence,  323  If. 

Self-control,  328. 

Self-expression,  value  of,  15. 

Self-respect,  and  influence  of 
the  speaker,  326. 

Sensationalism,  128. 

Sense  of  communication,  31  ff. 

Sentimentality  and  emotion, 
97. 

Sentiments,  as  interests,  113; 
as  motives,  197. 

Sermons,  see  Preachers. 

Shurter,  E.  D.,  216. 

Sidis,  B.,  228,  230,  235,  243. 

Simplicity  of  style,  163. 

Sincerity,  and  emotion,  97;  in 
the  use  of  language,  171;  in 
apologies,  323;  in  persuasion, 
335;  in  debating,  337. 

Slang,  173. 

Snowdon,  Mrs.  Phillip,  307. 

Social  suggestion,  226  ff. 

Social  science  as  a  field  for 
speech  subjects,  351;  topics 
from,  363. 

Social  welfare  as  a  human  in- 
terest, 113. 

Soliloquizing  speaking,  32  fT. 

Speaker,  his  attention,  Chap- 
ters 11,  111,  IV,  XIll;  his 
emotion,  Chapter  V;  his  pur- 
poses, 111;  relation  to  audi- 


ence, occasion  and  theme, 
116,  334;  his  age,  117;  his 
authority,  225,  304;  factors 
in  influence  of,  305  ff ;  atti- 
tude toward  audience,  257, 
317;  personality,  315. 

Speaker's  chart,  396. 

Specific  words,  67 ;  and  inter- 
est, 137;  specific  and  general 
applied  to  illustration,  138; 
and  concrete  in  persuasion, 
215;  see  Concreteness,  Imag- 
ination. 

Speech  preparation,  developing 
interest,  77  ff;  stages  of, 
79  ff ;  preliminary  revisal, 
79;  reading  and  conversing, 
81;  working  the  material, 
82;  imagination  in,  83;  pre- 
paring an  abstract  subject, 
85;  expression  during,  87; 
time  needed,  88;  finding  ma- 
terial, 369  ff ;  what  to  read, 
376;  how  to  read,  377;  tak- 
ing notes,  378;  originality, 
380  ft';  extemporaneous  or 
written,  385  ff;  plan,  393  ff; 
speaker's  chart,  396;  outline, 
395  ff;  see  Lincoln,  Speech 
subjects,  and  Outlines. 

Speech  subjects,  should  be  of 
interest,  77;  relation  of 
speaker  to,  116;  should  be 
narrowed,  92,  152,  157,  161, 
358;  suggested  by  the  occa- 
sion, 349;  suggestions  for 
finding,  349  ff ;  should  have 
interest  for  both  speaker  and 
audience,  350;  sources  of, 
350  ff';  and  purposes  of  the 
speaker,  357;  mood  of  the  oc- 
casion considered,  358;  time 
element  in  treatment  of,  358 ; 
adapted  to  oral  presentation, 
359;  suggested  topics,  359  ft*; 
see  Lincoln. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  67,  145. 

Staleness,  in  delivery,  94. 

Stories,  not  the  only  means  of 


INDEX 


525 


humor,  133;  a  means  of  find- 
ing common  ground,  261. 

Storrs,  R.  S.,  391. 

Strunsky,  Simeon,  130,  158. 

Stump  speakers,  sincerity  of, 
337 ;  voice  inflection  of,  439. 

Subjects,  see  Speech  subjects. 

Subordination,  necessary  for 
unity,  161  f;  and  correlation 
in  the  outline,  408;  in  deliv- 
ery, 434. 

Suggestion,  meaning  of,  222; 
methods  of,  224;  and  author- 
ity, 224;  repetition,  224;  the 
impulse  to  imitate,  225 ;  so- 
cial, 226;  and  immediate  ac- 
tion, 227;  direct  and  indi- 
rect, 228;  contra-suggestion, 
229 ;  increasing  suggestibil- 
ity, 230;  effect  of  numbers, 
230;  the  psychological  crowd, 
231;  forming  a  crowd,  233  ff; 
stampeding  political  conven- 
tions, 234,  236;  mobs,  237  ff; 
ethics  of,  241. 

Suggestive  gestures,  490. 

Summarizing,  in  preparing  for 
delivery,  441. 

Suspense  and  attention,  130. 

Sustained  attention,  59,  152;  in 
persuasion,  212  ff. 

Sympathy,  factor  in  court  de- 
cisions, 252  f;  and  influence 
of  the  speaker,  328;  in  tact, 
329. 

Tact,  in  exposition,  184;  in  use 
of  motives,  204;  in  disarm- 
ing opposition  to  argument, 
257  f;  a  combination  of  vari- 
ous qualities,  329 ;  convicting 
the  audience  of  ignorance, 
330;  admissions  helpful,  331; 
needless  raising  of  prejudice, 
333;  and  the  appeal  to  duty, 
333;  relation  of  speaker  to 
audience,  334;  care  in  use  of 
language,  335;  and  honesty. 


Taft,  William  II.,  200,  295. 

Talmage,  DeVVitt,  292. 

Taylor,  VV.  W.,  133. 

Tests,  of  authority,  292  ff;  of 
an  outline,  410. 

Thanatopsis,  illustrating  for^ 
ward-looking  thought,  438. 

Theory,  and  practice  in  public 
speaking,  9. 

Thinking  and  delivery,  17, 
Chapters  II,  III,  IV,  XIII, 
442;  on  one's  feet,  31  ff; 
checked  by  mechanical  metli- 
ods,  46,  427;  imitation  re- 
lieves from,  47;  theoretical 
versus  practical,  69;  in  prep- 
aration, Chapter  IV;  balance 
of  thought  and  feeling,  105; 
making  the  audience  think, 
127;  average  man  interested 
only  in  the  practical,  137; 
and  sincerity  of  expression, 
172;  while  reading,  377;  and 
memory,  457. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  54,  194,  196. 

Time,  in  preparation,  88;  and 
emotion,  105. 

Titchener,  E.  13.,  50,  51,  151, 
192. 

Topics,  503  ff;  see  Speech  sub- 
jects. 

Triteness,     124;     in  student 

speakers,  125. 
Twain,  Mark,  311,  322. 

Uncertainty  and  attention,  130. 
Understatement,    strenj^th  of. 

Unity,  in  variety,  158  ff:  kinds 
of  unity,  159;  of  the  Gettys- 
burg Address,  160:  warnings, 
161;  and  coherence,  164;  re- 
lation to  emphasis,  167;  of 
delivery,  441. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  171. 
V^ariety,  of  imagery,  L'>1:  unity 

in,  158;  of  delivery,  442. 
Verbosity,  154, 


526 


INDEX 


Vividness  of  thinking,  50,  62  ff ; 
in  preparation,  83;  see  Imag- 
ination. 

Voice,  communicative  quality 
of,  38;  qualities  desired, 
498  If. 

Voice  training,  place  of,  44; 
g^eneral  reference,  497  ft'; 
qualities  to  be  developed, 
498;  references  for,  501;  ex- 
ercises for,  502  ff ;  selections 
for,  506. 

Vowels,  exercises  for,  504. 

Waite,  H.  M.,  8. 
Ward,  J.  C,  78,  87. 
Washington,    Booker   T.,  276, 
333. 

Washington,  George,  301. 

Webster,  Daniel,  a  conversa- 
tional public  speaker,  25;  on 
extemporaneous  acquisition, 
90;  his  illustrations,  148; 
emotional  appeal  before  the 
Supreme  Court,  253;  dispos- 
ing of  prejudice,  255;  find- 
ing common  ground,  264;  de- 
fying authority,  301;  prac- 


tice of  understatement,  309; 

not  devoid  of  humor,  313; 

reputation  and  influence  of^ 

315;    personality,   316;  and 

memorizing,  389. 
Wendell,  Barrett,  148,  165,  182, 

262,  305. 
Whately,  Richard,  185. 
White,  Andrew  D.,  5,  14,  234, 

416,  497. 
Whitefield,  George,  36,  218. 
Who  is  to  Blame?  a  selection, 

462;  study  of,  457. 
Wiley,  Dr.  K,  209. 
Will,  in  the  theory  of  persua- 
sion, 185,  195. 
Willcox,  W.  F.,  293. 
Will  power  in  delivery,  39. 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  88,  207,  254, 

295. 

Wish  to  believe,  251,  2722. 

Writing,  in  preparing  a  speech, 
87 ;  extemporaneous  speaker 
should  practise,  390. 

Written  speech,  34,  387;  and 
the  outline,  421;  see  Manu- 
script. 


i 


im 


